Queen Of My Nightmare (Uncharted Secrets, Book 2): Endless Horizon Pirate Stories (11 page)

“What is it then? You never deny my love unless you’re mad about some crazy shit. I haven’t been around any whores, and the only reason I haven’t been around to see you is so that mean ol’ prune don’t hack my limbs off. So, what is it?”

“It’s nothing. I was delirious for so long and have so much on my mind.”

“What is on your mind?”

Unraveling a braid, I inhaled a stuttered breath. I had to tell him. Like Selah said, I couldn’t hide it for much longer. But then I remembered her saying he could get mad. What if he did?”

He then surprised the hell out of me by saying, “Show me your belly.”

“What? No. Why?” I quickly re-braided what I had undone.

“Why not? What are you hiding?”

“Nothing.”

“Don’t lie to me, Hannah. You should damned well know by now that you don’t have to hide anything from me. Show me your belly.”

Unable to escape his captain-like command, I slowly lifted my shirt, showing him the rounded mound that sheltered my baby from the world.

After staring at me in an awestricken trance, he shook his head. “Why didn’t you tell me?”

“I just didn’t think, well, you never want to, I just…”

“When did you plan on telling me?”

“I just figured it out myself. I have no idea how all this works and honestly, I’m scared to death, Mason.”

Lowering his face into his hand, he let out a long, slow exhale.

Too unnerved to wait patiently for his answer, I expressed all of my fears. “I know this isn’t in your plans and I don’t want to burden you, but I don’t want to be alone either, and I don’t even know what to do with a baby. I have never even held one before, and now I am going to be a mother! A mother, Mason. A tiny little child is going to look at me and call me mother. I have no idea how to fill that role and I don’t know what I will do without you.”

“Belay that nonsense!” He sliced his hand through the air, scaring me to silence. “What the hell makes you think you’re doing this alone?”

He looked so upset. “See. This is why I didn’t want to tell you because now you are mad.”

“I’m only mad because you don’t trust me. I would think that by now you’d know that I’m not going anywhere.”

“So, you’re not going to drop me off in port and leave me alone with a crying baby that I do not know what to do with?”

He laughed. “No. God no, Hannah. You speak like I’m some kind of monster. And you know what?” He squinted at me. “Your degree of selfishness astounds me sometimes.”

Completely offended, I gasped. “Selfishness?”

“Aye, see, you’re so selfish that you don’t even know you are. You never think past your pretty little nose, and for the most part I understand that, but I keep hoping you’ll let me on that side of your wall. It tastes like a pot of shit stew every time you shove me out.”

“Oh, I don’t mean to do that. You know I love you. I’m just worried. You’re a buccaneer, and…”

“Come here.” Pulling me up to straddle his lap, he unlaced my shirt and held his big hard hand over my rounding tummy. “I might be a buccaneer, and you know my passion behind what I do runs much deeper than the lofty pay, but beyond all that, I’m a man. And you’re my woman. Nothing else in this world means more to me than you do, and now this baby in here is a little bit of both of us.

I don’t know shit about children either, but there was also a time that I didn’t know how to sail, and a time I had no idea how to load a pistol. You know I learn my life lessons the hard way, and so just like everything else I face, I’m taking this head on. Never looking back to what was or what could’ve been. It’s just you and me and this baby we made, and I’ll do whatever I have to do to make everything all right for all of us. You don’t have to worry about a thing.”

Covered in the tears I was crying, I wrapped my arms around his neck. “I love you so much, Mason. Everything about you.”

“Ah, I love you, too, my sweet. In every way. I even like the ways your saucy little body is changing. Your cheeks have filled in and your arse feels bigger. I like it.” He grabbed my arse. “Your thighs are thicker. I love this round belly, and these.” He caressed my breasts which had plumped up significantly. “Damn, woman, how could you get any prettier? Oh, I know. You’ll be even prettier when I make you my wife.”

My heart lit up like the light of day. “You want to marry me?”

“Of course I do. I love you, Hannah.”              

“Oh, Mason, I never thought you’d want to do that.”

“Honestly, I never thought about marriage before, but since I met you I’ve been thinking about my future. I’ve been saving up my gold and wondering where the hell I’d like to retire.” He laughed at himself. “I never thought about none of this shit before, but look at this, I’ve got my seed growing in a pretty lady’s belly, and now I’m going to marry her and plant her an orange tree.”

I don’t think I had ever smiled so brightly.

“I’ll figure it all out, sweetheart. But for now, can I get back to kissing you like I wanted to before all this happened?”

I giggled. “Yes. Just don’t squish our baby.”

PART III

Uncharted Secrets

Bridgetown, Barbados

Autumn of 1646

Chapter 11

Dirty Secret

P
ullin
g
back the lacy curtain, I looked down upon the bay and sighed. Grey clouds were rolling in, and with nothing else to do I watched them tumble across the sky until they began pouring rain. Here, at yet another protected boarding house, it was no longer my job to watch the skies, and no one’s life depended on my reading of them. There were no maps to mark and there was no course to chart. Once again, I was nobody.

With or without me the world would keep turning and not a soul amongst the masses would know the difference.

A bolt of lightning struck the sky, and as the following crash of thunder rumbled through my ears, I thought of how the last few months of my life had been passing. After that buccaneer preacher married Mason and me near the pretty waterfall on the secret island, we spent a lovely month together ashore, strolling the beautiful beaches, bathing in hidden lagoons, and making love under the star-filled skies. But, eventually, we had to sail away.

Saying goodbye to Selah was harder than it was to leave my own mother, who drank herself to death long before my return. The tears I cried over the loss of my islander midwife mirrored the raindrops that fell on the sea as I sailed away from her.

The seas we then traveled were so damn rough that my rejuvenated health began failing. Vomiting led to cramping, cramping eventually led to bleeding, and for the sake of his wife and child, Mason refused to make the long sail to England. I cried, I begged, I pleaded on my knees, but it was no use. He forced me back to Barbados against all my agonizing pleas, promising we’d leave this terrible place as soon as his baby was born.

So, here I hid in this boarding house nestled in the hills outside of town, where once again, no one knew who I truly was. Hiding away like this—under yet another false name—Clarinda would not be able to burn me alive for casting that spell on her son, and Odelia—who had married Lloyd after Thomas disappeared—could not torment me for growing this pirate-witch baby in my womb. So far the plan had worked, but now that I had experienced camaraderie and purpose during my life as a buccaneer, the solitude I had always sought out before was now driving me insane.

Hearing the door open behind me, I turned to see Mason coming in, soaking wet.

“Hello,” I mumbled, then looked back out the window.

While changing into dry clothes, he rambled on about his day of work at the docks. Though there was little luster in his new way of living, there was no lack of joy in his expressions. Unlike me, he had been enjoying the past five months ashore.

Clean and dry, he sat on the sofa in the tiny room we shared and patted the spot next to him. “Come sit by me, my pretty little Viking. I want to say hello to my little mate.”

Turning away from the window where I’d been gazing at the sky, I went to sit next to the man who now called me his wife. Knowing how much Mason loved to rub my bare belly, I untied the lacy white robe I wore and let him say hello to his little mate.

“He’s gotten so big.” Mason rubbed his big, hard hand over my enormous belly.

“I know. I feel like a heifer,” I huffed, frowning dramatically.

“No, you’re more like an ice princess in this white robe.” He smiled and kissed my cheek. “Did you think any more about names?”

“Yes. I like your idea of naming him after your grandfather, but I want him to have your name, too. How about, Sterling Mason Bentley.”

“I like it. Sounds like the kind of man that’ll rule the seas one day. Like me.” He flashed a cocky smile. “Ah, he’s moving again.” Mason’s eyes lit up. He was so in love with this little creature that made me fat and beat on my insides.

“Your baby loves you already, Mason. He always moves more when you are around.”

“You think he can hear me in there?”

“I think so. So, if
he
turns out to be a girl, she will be mad at us for making such assumptions.” I chuckled.

Though I had a feeling our baby was going to be a boy, I was half hoping for a girl because I loved the name we picked for her. Remington Rain. She would be named after my father and Mason’s love for the stormy weather.

Tapping at the place on my belly where the baby’s foot was misshaping the rounded orb he dwelled in, Mason said, “Lad or lassie, we won’t have to wait much longer to find out, eh?”

“Any day now. I can’t wait. Then we can get out of this stupid house and off of this godforsaken hellhole island. I hate it here.”

He rolled his head back. “I know you do. I didn’t want to come here either but we did what we had to do, and this is the best place to be for now.”

“I suppose.” I covered my belly. “I would rather have stayed on that secret island and let Selah help me with child birth. These midwives here don’t know half of the things she knew.”

“Ah, Hannah, stop it.” He stood up. “I’ve told you a hundred times why we couldn’t stay there.”

“I know, I know. Your crew didn’t want to stay that long and you refused to be stuck on an island without a ship. Well, what about me, Mason? I am just that. Stuck! Stuck on this stupid island fearing for my life again.”

“You have nothing to worry about.” His expression grew dark, foreboding like the sea at night. “And you need to stop talking to me like I’m some kind of fool. I know what’s going on around this island and I know what I’m doing here. I’ve put a great amount of consideration into where I’m working, where we’re staying, and where we’re going once we leave here. And it all has to do with the two of you being safe and well cared for. Nobody’s going to hurt either one of you, so I wish you would just relax and have a little faith in my promise to you.”

Unwilling to cooperate, I rolled my eyes. “I just want to spit him out and be on our way.”

“Ah, Hannah,” he waved his arms in frustration, “You can’t just
spit
a baby out and get on a ship. We’re going to have to wait until he’s big enough to go across the sea.”

“Wait?!” I shrieked, “For how long?”

“I don’t know, just until he isn’t a tiny weak little thing.”

“That’s ridiculous. I think we should leave today. I am feeling well and there are plenty of women who birth their children while at sea,” I snipped with my arms crossed.

“Aye, and plenty of them die due to the rancid conditions on the ship and the lack of care and knowledge aboard. You’ve seen what it’s like out there and all the things that can happen. I’m not subjecting you or our child to any of that shit until I got a ship of my own fit to take you safely under my own command.”

“So, that’s it then. I just sit here and rot while you do whatever you want around town for an undisclosed amount of time? I don’t like that plan one bit and I am beginning to think that you like watching me suffer.” I stuck my nose up in the air.

He fanned his hand at me. “Don’t be ridiculous, Hannah.”

“This is ridiculous!” I waved my hands around the ugly little room. “The wallpaper is hideous, the bed is uncomfortable, the whole room smells funny, and I don’t like any of the wenches running this place. Nor do they like me.”

Taking a deep breath, he slowly spoke. “Maybe it’s because you’re mean to everyone you talk to.”

“I am not mean. I just have no intention of making friends. I am sure you remember the last bitch I tried to be friends with. You know, the one you ended up fucking in the room down the hall from me after you asked me to be your lady!”

Pacing the room with his fists clenched, I could tell he was containing the urge to thrash the area.

“Why don’t you go ahead and smash something. I would love to watch you destroy this place.”

Without another word, he put his shoes on, grabbed his coat, and left.

The sound of the door slamming behind him echoed in my mind as I grabbed my cat and sat down on the bed with him. “What is the matter with me, Feather? Why do I want to be so mean to him?” Feather rubbed his face against my big round belly. “I know he has sacrificed everything to care for us, just like he promised he would, and I do believe that he has done all he can to keep my identity safely hidden, but I am just terribly mad at him for some reason.

You know what, Feather? I think I am jealous of his freedom. He gets to go to work and talk to people, and look how easy it was for him to storm out of here tonight. I don’t get to do that when he makes me mad. No. I just hide here in this stupid room.”

No longer having the energy to speak to my cat, I laid down on the bed and continued with my thoughts as the rain poured outside.
He is out there in that terrible weather. I hope he is all right. Where in the world could he have gone?
With the endless possibilities roaming through my mind, I began to fret over his feelings about our fight. I was terribly rude to him, and he was so angry when he left. He could very well be releasing his aggressions in a brothel room at the tavern!

Springing out of bed, I began to pace. “You know, Feather, now that I think about it, he has probably been cheating all along. All that money he has stored away has to be going somewhere. He sure as shit isn’t spending it on me. No longer do I get the best room in the house, and no one here treats me like a princess. I am nothing but his dirty little secret. He probably has a younger, prettier whore—one not fat with his child—who he does his spending on, now.

The storm increased its velocity, and with thunder and lightning raging across the night sky, I let my mind run wild with the strangling visuals of his certain betrayal. It crossed my mind to hunt him down in the rain. I even grabbed my black cloak a few times, fantasizing about Midnight catching him in the act and stabbing Hannah’s replacement to death. But I couldn’t. With this enormous child resting soundly in my womb, all I could do was wait. Sit here and wait for the man who kept me captive to return with my rations.

X

Just after midnight, I heard the door knob turn. There was laughter on the other side of the wooden divider. The unfamiliar chortle made me think I should grab a weapon. With my pistol loaded, I hid behind the sofa and waited for the door to open. When it did, I was relieved to see Mason’s massive silhouette filling the doorway, with the nearly blinding light from the hall behind him. But who was that with him?

Waiting to see just what he was up to, I stayed where I was as he went to turn on the lamp. As if his ridiculous laughter was not enough to prove that he was drunk, the way he fumbled about clarified it. Though he had not yet managed to get the light on, it became apparent to me that the other voice belonged to Shark. Though I was glad to see my only other friend in the world, I jumped out of my hiding place and yelled at Mason. “Where the hell were you?”

Jerking his head back in shock, Mason belched. “Nice to see you too, sweetheart. Shit.” He shook his head in irritation. “I ran into Shark Bite at the tavern and thought you’d like to say hello to your friend.”

Though Shark tipped his wet hat and said, “Hello, Lady Midnight,” the fact that Mason had been at the tavern was the only thing I cared about. With all my heartbreaking, backstabbing visuals solidifying in my mind, I cocked back my arm and punched Mason across the jaw.

“Ooooh!” Shark hooted through his drunken humor.

With the door still open behind them, Mason shouted loud enough for all of the household to hear. “What the hell was that for?” He kicked over the chair next to him. “Goddamn it woman, I should’ve never taught you how to fight!”

“And I should have never let you touch me, you lying, cheating pirate!” I screamed at the top of my lungs.

“Maybe I shouldn’t have!” he blasted, throwing the table against the wall. At that point the guard of the house came rushing through the opened door. Amidst my wrathful blur I could see Shark arguing with him.

“Well, lucky for you, you will never have to again.” I backed against the window.

Charging at me with his finger pointed, Mason shouted, “It’s never enough for you, woman. Never ever!”

I slapped his hand out of my face. “Oh, go stick that finger up one of your whore’s slut-holes! I know that’s what you have been doing anyways.”

At that moment, with all of the other guests at this safe house crowded around in the hall, Mason Bentley lost his very mind. While ripping the room I hated to shreds, he hollered and cursed about giving me what I wanted, again. With Shark keeping the guards at bay, not a man in the world could stop him. Once there was nothing left to tear apart, Mason looked at me with fire burning in his eyes and his chest heaving like a gale force wind. “There. You wanted to watch me destroy this place. Are you happy now, woman?”