Forgotten Truths (The Forgotten Truths Series) (4 page)

“I don’t sleep much. I usually just doze a bit. I heard you get up and figured you wouldn’t be able to figure out the door. It’s pretty old.”

There it was again. He was being considerate toward me. I didn’t get it. There had to be something else he wanted from me. Nobody I knew treated people nicely unless they wanted something or were planning to do something to that person.

“So do you want a tour or did you just want to be out on the deck?”

I looked down. “I just wanted to get out of the room. I like being out in the open.”

He nodded. “I don’t like being cramped up myself.”

I went t
o the railing and leaned over to feel the spray against my face. I felt my body relax quickly. It was as if nothing had changed and I was still on my father’s ship.

“What is your name?” he asked softly from behind me.

I turned my head toward him. “What?”

“What is your nam
e?” he repeated a little louder as if he thought I hadn’t heard him when I had actually spoken out of surprise.

“Are you serious?” I stood up straight and stared at him.

He put his hands in his pockets. “Yes.”

I’d been kidnapped and they didn’t even know my name? Who did they think I was? Why was I kidnapped if they didn’t know who I was? What kind of people did this? I could understand if they had some sort of grudge against my father and were using my kidnapping as some sort of ransom. But they didn’t even know who I was!

“If you don’t know who I am, then why did you kidnap me?” I spoke through my teeth. I clenched my hands into fists to try to hide how badly I was shaking from anger.

“I told you that we rescue girls from piracy. And I was acting under orders.” He shrugged. “We do it all the time.”

“You steal girls from their pirate fathers because females shouldn’t be pirates? You took me from the only family I have! What kind of person are you?” My voice broke on the end, but I kept my eyes on him. I couldn’t lose it yet.

“Are you going to answer my question at all?”

I couldn’t arrange my thoughts in an order that would make any sense.

He
was distracted by a noise from behind him. He turned his head to see what it was, and I made my move. I took this opportunity to climb quickly up on the railing and held onto a loose rope that hung above my head. I stared out at the sea and wondered if I should just swim for it and take my chances.

I felt arms wrap around my waist and found myself being pulled off the railing. I held onto the rope and started to kick. James got a good pull in and we immediately
tumbled backwards. We fell to the deck, me slightly on top of him. I tried to get free, but his arms were still around my waist. The more I struggled, the tighter his hold became. I started to panic and fought more, finally getting one of my arms free. I flung my fist back and made contact with his face, but I was still stuck. I was able to shift just enough so that I was able to jerk my head back, and aimed for his face yet again. He must have anticipated it because he quickly dodged and still didn’t let go. I was about to start screaming when I pulled my arm forward and slammed my elbow into him. That was when he finally let me go.

I was i
mmediately up and away from him. I leaned over the railing to throw up. I hadn’t eaten in at least a day, but there must have been something in my stomach because it came out quickly. When I finally stopped, I stayed bent over the railing, breathing heavily. It took a few more minutes, but I was able to straighten up again. I wiped my mouth as I turned around. I froze when I saw the skin around his eye turning darker, but that’s not what really caught my attention. It was the expression on his face. It was so helpless and confused and something that I couldn’t begin to describe or understand.

My knees started to shake, and I
slid down the railing until I hit the deck. I looked down at my hands and saw they were trembling.

“Are you okay
?”

I took my time
to look back at him. Why was he so concerned about me? He didn’t even know who I was. I leaned my head back and rested it against the wood. I felt too lightheaded and tired. I knew I’d been sleeping a good portion of the day, but it had seemed to be a very long day.

“Please answer me.”

“I just punched you in the stomach and face, and you’re wondering if
I’m
okay?” I shook my head but finally felt my heart calm down. It was always so much worse when I was held from behind and couldn’t get free. I really couldn’t control what I did in that sort of situation. I just did what I had to do to get free.

“It didn’t hurt.” He shrugged and started to get up. His eye was completely black now as he held his hand out to me.

I did not deserve this. Why wasn’t he mad? There was something really wrong about this, but I was too confused to worry about it long. I got up alone and started back toward the room but tripped. James caught me at the last second. I immediately jumped away from him.

“Don’t touch me.” I placed my hand against the door to support myself. I sounded weak, which wasn’t something that happened often.

He stood quietly for a moment. “Would you at least tell me your name?”

I turned my head toward him but kept
my face expressionless in contrast to what was really going on inside of me. As I found the latch with my hand, I whispered, “Don’t ask me that again.”

~~~~~~~***~~~~~~~

For the next few days, James stayed in the room but didn’t talk. When I woke, he would be sitting in the chair he had pulled further back to give me space. When I moaned, he’d place a damp cloth on my forehead. When my stomach growled, he brought me food. He kept a glass of water by me, filled at all times. I never made eye contact with him. I could tell when he was looking at me because he would take in a breath as if about to say something but he would pause and let it out. I didn’t acknowledge him. When he moved toward me to move the cloth, I closed my eyes. The silence was getting on my nerves, and one of us was going to break it soon. The tension in the air was so thick that we almost needed to open the door to let some of it out.

One afternoon, I was staring up at the ceiling, and out of the corner of my eye, I saw James stand up. In response, I closed my eyes. I felt him standing right next to me, and after a moment he sat down on the bench. I was very aware of his hand right next to my knee, but he didn’t touch it. He cleared his throat, which I ignored. He cleared it again and again until I
finally opened my eyes and looked at him. He still didn’t say anything, and when he reached his hand toward my forehead, I didn’t flinch. It wasn’t until he bypassed the cloth and moved his hand under it did I realize why he waited until my eyes were open. I immediately tensed, but stayed still. He didn’t press his hand to my forehead; he barely touched it, just as he had when he had placed it on the back of my head when I hit it against the wall.

Before I knew it, my mouth was open and
told him my name. “Andrea.”

He lifted his hand away.
I saw that there were scratches and calluses all over it that I hadn’t noticed before. He reached beside him and took hold of a wet cloth to replace the one on my forehead.

“But only my father calls me Andrea. Everyone else calls me Andy.” I noticed my voice was very raspy as the cloth was put back in its place.

He leaned toward me, but was reaching for my water glass next to my shoulder. At the same time, I sat up a little, which brought myself closer without meaning to. He caught my eye and froze. His eyes were much darker than I had thought. The hair that hung on his forehead was very thin and had light brown streaks in it from being in the sun, or so I assumed. I wondered what he noticed about me this close.

His hand suddenly appeared between our faces. It took a moment for my eyes to focus on what he was holding. It was my water glass.
I shouldn’t have been surprised since that was what he had been reaching for. I didn’t take my eyes off it when I held it and put it on my lap. I wasn’t thirsty anymore.

He stayed where he was, however, and I still felt his eyes on me. “You’re head is still a little warm. How are you feeling?”

“Better.”

“Are you dizzy or lightheaded anymore?”

“No.”

He leaned back. “Look, about the other night, I didn’t mean to upset you. I’m sorry.”

I glanced at him. He seemed honest and as he stared back at me, I could tell he was hoping I would respond instead of remaining quiet.  “Can I ask you something?”

He nodded.

“Why did you take me if you didn’t even know who I was? You didn’t know anything about me, so did you just see me and decide that I was in danger or something that I didn’t know about?”

“I was under orders. We’ve been doing this sort of thing for
a few years.” He spoke slowly and kept his eyes locked on mine. His voice was soft when he said, “I told you this before.”

“I know, but I’m still trying to understand. I mean, kidnapping girls from their lives? What do you do with them once you’ve got them?” I was genuinely confused and curious, even if it felt like we kept going in a circle.

“Well, most of the time they’ve been kidnapped by pirates, so we put them back with their families. For the ones who don’t remember their families, we do what we can to find families who have lost a child and who are willing to take someone in and care for them.”

“And what about girls like me?”

“We haven’t had a girl like you before.” He took the glass out of my hands since I wasn’t drinking it. “So in this case, you’ll come with me and Captain Brown. This way, even if you don’t like me, you’ll be with someone who isn’t a stranger.”

“How much longer is it until we dock?”

He looked out the window. “Soon.”

“How soon is soon?” The momen
t it was out of my mouth, I heard the ship moan and then a shudder ran through it as we came to a stop.

He looked back at me with a small smile. “Now.”

“So, now what?”

“We’ll wait a little bit for the crew to unload cargo and then we’ll leave.”

How was it that he had time to sit in here with me all day, every day, and didn’t have to help with unloading or regular maintenance?  My father would never let any member of his crew get away with it. They’d be gone in the blink of an eye.

“Is there anything I need to do?”

“Well,” His focus went to something off to the side, and I followed his gaze to a box by the door I hadn’t noticed before. “It has been suggested…”

“What has?” I sat up straighter.

He looked back at me. “That you come off the ship wearing a dress.”

I must have made some horrendous facial expression because he started to laugh. I turned
back to him.

“Are you serious?” I snapped.

He stopped laughing quickly. “You’ll look just like everyone else and you won’t be bothered with strange stares and attention you don’t want.”

“Absolutely not.” I folded my arms across my chest.

“I thought you would agree,” he mumbled as he stood.

I
got to my feet too. “Why on earth would I agree to something like that?”

He continued over to the box.

“Did you hear me? I will not wear a dress. You cannot make me.”

“Actually I can, but I don’t think you want me to.” He stopped at the box and pulled the lid off. I couldn’t see what was in it, but it was obvious that it was the dress in question. He pulled it out and shook it. It was a pale red color with a high neck. It looked fairly simple, but I still thought it was hideous.

“No. I won’t do it.”

He set it on a chair and walked back over to me. I straightened up; bracing myself for whatever it was he was going to do to me. He stopped right in front of me and locked his ey
es on mine. I stared right back. I was waiting for a struggle or a hand grab or anything.

“You’re a beautiful lady.”

I blinked. Nobody had ever called me beautiful before, let alone a lady. “Excuse me?”

“There is nothing to compare you to. Not a sunset over the ocean; not a lone flower in a field of dirt, although that one is slightly closer.” He tilted his head. “Why do you want to hide it?”

I stepped back. I wasn’t sure how to take what he was saying, even though I knew he was just trying to convince me to put the dress on. I was quickly becoming flustered. “Stop that. I will not wear that dress, no matter what you say to me. Maybe to you I’m beautiful, but to me, I don’t see it nor do I care.”

“Why not?”

“I go around wearing men’s clothing on a regular basis. I’ve seen women in other towns, and I look nothing like them. I’m not beautiful.”

“I think you are.”

“I don’t care what you think.”

He
groaned. “Please just put it on?”

“No.”

He sighed again and lowered his head. He slowly took a step closer, and then another until he was so close I could feel his breath on my face. He lifted his eyes to catch mine, and I noticed he wore a softer expression. It was mesmerizing. “Please?”