The Cursed Doubloon (7 page)

“In every way.”

I opened the door once again and stepped out. “If you’re lucky,” I said, leaving him with a smile.

The clothing shop owner was a little baffled as to why I was waiting at her door for her business to open. When I went in she left me to my shopping, but I spotted her occasionally watching me as she swept up around the small room.

I had an image in my mind of how I wanted Ladarius to look: different. Not different enough to come off as odd to Keelhaul, but I wanted him to look like a clean respectful pirate. “Clean respectful pirate,” I scoffed to myself. “There is no such thing.”

“Do you need any help, dear?” the lady asked, obviously overhearing my private utterances to myself.

“No thank you. I’m just talking out loud to myself about these wonderfully-made garments you carry.”

She smiled with pride and went back to her sweeping.

I continued my searching and found a white long-sleeved shirt made of cotton that was open at the neck. I paired it with a charcoal-colored vest, a pair of trousers, and a nice pair of brown boots. On my way to pay the shop owner I spotted a red bandana hanging on the wall. “I’ll take the bandana too,” I told her.

I hurried back to the ship and found Ladarius in my cabin asleep on my bed with the blanket barely covering him. I put his clothes on the nightstand and left the room, letting him indulge himself in some much needed rest.

* * *

“Weigh anchor men!” John shouted. “We be settin’ off fer our voyage to find Keelhaul’s ship!”

I stood next to him and stared out at the wall of heavy mist that was rolling in. “Father’s not going to like that fog when he sees it.”

“Aye,” John agreed. “But he be havin’ no choice but to—”

“Avast! The curse of the fog be surroundin’ me ship!”

We turned to see my father wide eyed with his finger pointing in the cloud’s direction.

I rolled my eyes. “It’s not a curse, Father. We are living on the sea; the fog lives here.”

“We must be gettin’ away! We be sailin’ around it men!”

“Captain,” John cut in, “with all do respect, if we go around it wouldn’t it be takin’ us too far off course?”

“We need to haul wind,” Ladarius’s deep voice rang out. We all shifted our attention to him standing in the doorway of my cabin adorned in the clothing I had bought him. He looked amazing. The pants gripped at his legs nicely and the boots were proper. The white shirt was under the charcoal-colored vest and was open enough to display the ridges of his chest muscles.

“Wow,” I spoke first, “you look stunning.”

“Thank you,” he smiled. “I was hoping I put it on correctly. I almost fell over putting on the trousers.”

I laughed and stared at him with both admiration and lust that was taking over my body the more and more we were together. In that moment no one else was on deck but the two of us.

“My my!” John said. “Ye actually be lookin’ like a real pirate.”

“He not be a real pirate!” my father added. “Not ‘til he be speakin’ like one and pullin’ his weight like one.”

“I will pull my weight I can assure you that,” Ladarius told him. “And you need to haul wind. It will get us through the fog much faster.”

“Why don’t we be goin’ around it?” my father questioned him with a growl.

“Because its mass is too large and will take us too far away from the direction our destination is in, like John said.”

“But if we be haulin’ wind we be goin’ right through it! We be hittin’ hidden rocks!”

“That be a good point,” John cut in. “There be rocks we won’t be able to see in this mist.”

Ladarius nodded and stepped forward, showing off the strength his legs were gaining in his steps. The crew all broke out in chatter and whispers, casting their own take on the new human on board. “I know this sea better than any pirate,” Ladarius asserted himself, “and I know where the rocks are. I will protect this ship.”

My father raised his head high and looked down his nose at him. “Ye really be thinkin’ we won’t be hittin’ any rocks? How ye be so sure?”

“Cause I am a ShipSaver. I have saved
The Fog Chaser
many times before.”

My father sucked his teeth and looked to John, who nodded in agreement with Ladarius. “Aye, merman. We be haulin’ wind then.”

I walked over to Ladarius while wearing a smile, pleased that he stood his ground with my father. “Impressive. My father actually listened to someone else besides the voices in his head.”

“I’m glad he did. The ship will be safer with my plan.”

“Good.” I looked his outfit up and down.

“Where’s your bandana?”

“I couldn’t quite figure it out.”

“Well, let’s go back in my room. I’ll help you.”

We stepped back into my small sanctuary of a room and I grabbed the red scrap of fabric off of my nightstand. “You fold it like this, and place it over your hair like this . . .” I raised it above him and secured it around the back of his head, tying the corners together in a solid knot. “There. I can’t believe how much you actually look like a pirate.”

“That’s good.”

“Yes, your looks are suitable for the charade but not your vocabulary. You are much too proper for a pirate.”

“Well I’m ready to learn.”

“Are you sure?”

“Yes.”

 “Aye,” I corrected him.

He smiled happily. “Aye.”

I stepped back and sat on the edge of my bed with my finger on my chin, taking in the sight of him. “We’ll need to get you a belt and some weapons to hang from it. And every pirate needs a piece of jewelry.”

“Jewelry? Isn’t jewelry made for women?”

“Have you noticed the pirates on board? Plenty of them wear necklaces or rings of some sort.”

“And earrings,” he added. “It all seems a bit odd to me.”

“Odd? I seem to remember you donning a royal crown below the water, Prince Ladarius.”

“Ah yes,” he nodded pleasantly. “But crowns are much different. They exude power.”

“Well you’ll need to wear something. I’ll let you decide.”

He paced back and forth, looking down at his boot-covered feet. “A necklace will only get in my way. And rings seem constricting. The only option left is an earring but that seems the most feminine of all.”

“You would think so but not to pirates. And it’s only in one ear. I can get you a big gold hoop.”

“And how would I wear it?”

“My father can pierce it.”

“Your father?” he shrieked, stopping in place and looking up at me. “Are you mad?”

“No,” I laughed. “He pierced my ears and my mother’s ears, as well as a few men on this ship. He’s quite good at it.”

“Yeah but was this pre-curse or post-curse that he pierced you and his men?”

“Um, pre-curse?”

“Absolutely not! I’m not getting my ear pierced by a drunken raving lunatic. It’s out of the question.”

I pulled in my lips, trying to hide my smile. “I understand completely. You shall wear a ring then.”

“No ring.”

“Why, because you think it will be too constricting?”

“No.” He stood in front of me and took my hands in his, pulling me to stand. “It’s because the only ring I want to wear is the one that means I am your husband.” Without saying another word he lowered his lips and kissed me. I melted against his mouth, becoming completely overtaken by him and his masculinity. His hands dropped from mine and he wrapped his arms around my waist, pulling me harder against him like he needed me for warmth. I quivered as if I was cold, but it was the complete opposite: I was overwhelmingly hot. When our lips parted he rested his forehead against mine. “I’ve been waiting to kiss you like a man,” he breathed.

“You were very much a man on the beach the other night.”

“Yes,” he smiled. “I was just a different kind than you were used to.”

“But a man nonetheless.”

“Yes.”

“Yes?” I asked.

The dimple in his cheek showed itself as he smiled down at me. “Aye.”

* * *

“You’ve got to be kidding me!”

Ladarius’s voice carried through the cracks of my father’s cabin as the crew and I stood outside the door, lingering as if we were waiting for a woman to give birth.

“Quit yer complainin’! Ye wanna be a pirate, don’t ye?”

“That needle is much too big!”

“Are ye a man or a mouse?”

“Apparently I’m a mouse because I certainly don’t want that sharp thing coming anywhere near me! And you reek of rum!”

The men around me laughed and I couldn’t help but chuckle myself. I never thought Ladarius to be the kind of man who was afraid of needles.

“I be doin’ it handsomely!”

“I don’t care how fast you go, you’re drunk and you’ll probably stick it in my eye!”

“I can’t believe me daughter be interested in the likes of ye, ye coward.”

The room went silent. “Fine,” Ladarius huffed. “But make it quick.”

“That’s what I be tryin’ to do,” my father growled. “Now, I need to be puttin’ some rum on yer lobe to sanitize it first.”

“Why don’t you just spit on it? Your saliva alone is probably one-hundred proof. And you don’t have to walk me through the process. Just do it and get it over with.”

“Fine!”

The cabin went silent again,
too
silent actually. I leaned in and tried to hear what was happening but it was no use. The crew all exchanged glances with each other after a couple of minutes passed. And then finally the door opened and Ladarius stepped out, his gold hoop earring hanging nicely from his ear.

“What?” someone said. “He not be even makin’ a sound when the Captain be piercin’ him!”

“You look wonderful,” I told him. “I must confess you look very handsome with an earring.”

“You think so?” he smiled.

“I do. And how is it that you did not make a sound when my father pierced you? That earring is very large and the needle surely had to match.”

“Well, since I made such a fuss about it happening in the first place I figured I had to earn some of my respect back as a man. I don’t want you thinking I’m less of one because I was afraid of a sharp object being driven at my face by a drunkard.”

“Your whines of complaint were understandable,” I laughed. “No one in their right mind would be comfortable getting it done by my father post-curse. You’ve never lost your manliness with me and I’m sure you gained it back among the crew from not growling or crying out at the needle piercing your skin.”

“Well that’s good to know.”

My father stumbled out of his room. “Now ye need to be gettin’ to work with yer talkin’!” he said as he trudged away. The crew followed after him like baby ducklings going after their mother, awaiting their next orders.

“Why does my father have to yell constantly?” I asked with a shake of my head. “I miss the days when he was a normal man.”

Ladarius held his arm out and I laced mine in his. “I know you miss how he used to be.”

We walked arm in arm down the length of the ship as the cool breeze rustled my hair and dress. It was nice taking a moment for just the two of us to talk and enjoy each other’s company, much like we used to do when he lived beneath the sea.

“It’s sad knowing he will never return to his old self,” I said.

“I’m sure he won’t always be cursed.”

“As long as he is in possession of the Cursed Doubloon he will be. The legend says that the only way to be lifted of its curse would be for someone to kill him and take the doubloon for themselves. So my father will either be alive and cursed or he will be dead. Both scenarios are not encouraging.”

“Bloody curse,” he huffed. “You deserve so much more in your life than what you have been handed. I hope to turn your luck around.”

We stopped our stroll and I turned to face him. “You already have. You’ve been a listening ear when I needed someone to talk to; a refuge of safety when I have felt scared. And I know you will soon become much more to me, in a couple of different ways.”

“Yes I’ve been working up to the last two.”

“And what might those be?” I asked with a smile.

“You know what they are, silly girl.”

“Girl? Is that how you see me?”

“Not at all,” he said as he pulled me close. “Sorry, I meant to say silly woman.”

I wrapped my arms around his neck and twiddled my fingers in the hair that was sticking out from under his bandana. “Well tell this silly woman the last two things you wish to become to me.”

He leaned in and placed a kiss on my cheek. “You very well know the first one.” He kissed me once again, this time gravitating down to the skin on my neck.

Goosebumps covered my flesh. “Tell me,” I whispered.

His lips rose next to my ear. “Lover.”

“And?” I grinned.

I could feel his lips turn into a smile. “Husband.”