Jack dropped to his knees and caressed my belly. “Mama thinks you’re a girl. Most fathers would want a boy—but not me. I want a daughter, just as pretty as her mama.”

Thunk.

“See that? Jacky, did you feel it?” My voice rose on its own. “Oh Jacky, she knows your voice!”

When my husband looked up at me, tears shimmered in his eyes, brightening their already green hue to the color of England in the springtime. “Redella, I believe we have a daughter.”

“Jack, what was your grandmother’s name?”

“I’ve never told you? In all the talking about my past we’ve done?”

I shook my head.

“Her name was Loreena. Loreena O’Malley.”

I chewed my lower lip. “Mother’s middle name was my grandmother’s middle name. Jacqueline.”

Jack looked up at me, emotion ripe in his eyes. “I believe we have our name.”

“Loreena. Loreena Jacqueline Rackham.” I stared into my husband’s face and waited for his approval. “If, of course, that’s a fitting name for you.”

He stayed squatted down for what seemed like an eternity. “I never figured to find myself in such a way, Red. A husband, a father.” Jack rose and wrapped me in his arms. “You’ve given me a gift I’m not worthy of, Red.”

I covered Jack’s hands with mine. Loreena kicked again, bringing a smile to Jack’s face. “Loreena Jacqueline,” he whispered into my hair. “I think that’s the most beautiful name on any land, on any sea.”

•

“We’ll be in Madagascar by nightfall.”

“Time passed quicker than I thought, what with my ginger root to gnaw on.” My belly had grown so large over the course of our journey that it felt as though I had a giant Caribbean melon stuck under my canvas skirt constructed from a torn sail. Thankfully, Rusty was a skilled seamstress and was able to make my clothing dilemma as painless and comfortable as possible. I sucked in a breath and a deep cramp across my back furrowed my brow. “Have you seen any sign of Tommy’s—well, your—ship?”

“I caught a glimpse of The Revenge this morning, then she was gone again. I figure we’ll catch her when we dock.”

“I’m quite tired, Jacky. Would you please wake me when we get there? I’d like to see Tommy—and apologize, if it was me who set him off on this silly quest.” I pressed my hands into my lower back and leaned into them. “Even if it wasn’t me, I’d still like to apologize to him.”

It seemed I had only just laid my head down upon the pillow when Jack’s voice echoed through the cabin. “Redella. Redella, we’re here. And it looks like we’re too late.”

I dragged myself out of the bed. The cramp in my back wasn’t helped by my rest. Perhaps once I get up and move around it will feel better.

I was wrong. It hurt just as much.

No matter. Tommy was out there and needed our help. I followed Jack, slowly, up the steps and across the deck. Before we were even on shore, I could hear him.

“Prince of the Rats! Where ye be, I say?”

I let Jack help me down the rope ladder as I tried to watch over my shoulder. The deckhands of The Black Otter lined the beach, while Tommy stumbled about with his sword drawn at the mouth of the Malagasy jungle. Funny looking little animals, gray with long black and white tails, stared at him with bemused, catlike expressions.

“Jack, do you think Tommy’s been drunk this entire trip?”

My husband helped me to the shore and shrugged. “I don’t know. He found his way here and faster than us. But he’s certainly drunk now.”

Tommy’s voice grew to a hysterical shriek. “Prince of the Rats! I, your half-brother Tommy Tew, challenge you to a duel! To the death, it be!”

The cat-like creatures scattered as a man stepped out of the jungle understory. I gasped.

Decked in shimmering gold and threads I’d never seen colors of before, he wore an air of regality over everything else. A throng of shirtless women followed behind him, their eyes downcast. “You come to my kingdom and threaten me with death? This is not how brothers behave.”

“Prince of the Rats,” Tommy seethed, then stopped. “We have the same nose, for God’s sake, we do!”

“Why have you come, Brother?”

Tommy’s face turned from white to red to purple. “Brother! You cannot call yourself my brother!”

The women knelt so quickly that Tommy jumped. When they rose, each held a spear. Still, their eyes were downcast, but their message was clear.

“Why,” Tommy began. “Why did Father love you and not me? Why did he give you all this, and me? I just got his name and nothing more, I did.”

Prince Ratsimilaho started to speak, but someone stepped up behind him. The women dropped their spears.

“What’s all this talk of blood and death and noses?”

Tommy’s face transformed from furious to shocked. “Father!”

My eyes widened. I leaned closer to Jack. “I thought his father was killed?”

“So did I.”

Tommy dropped his sword and hitched up his britches. He started toward his father, but one of the women picked up a spear. He stopped short, a confused look on his rotund face. “Father?”

A white man by all accounts and dressed in pirate garb from yesteryear, the elder Thomas Tew spoke with a regal tone. “Tommy, it’s time you knew the truth.”

A black woman, slender and tall and shirtless, stepped from the jungle with a cat-like creature riding on her shoulder. The long, striped tail curled down around her breast. “This is my wife, the Queen of Madagascar. With her, I had the prince.”

I half expected the prince to smirk. Instead, his downcast face mirrored Tommy’s.

Thomas continued. “Your mother was a whore, Tommy. She insisted that I was your father and went so far as to give you my name. I never claimed you as my own, and if I could, I’d take my name from you now, lest you disgrace is more than you already have.”

Thomas, the apparent King of Madagascar, bowed. “As for the rest of you. Restock your water, enjoy our food, and please, be gone by morning.”

With that, he turned on his heel and disappeared back into the jungle, his woman only a step behind him.

Tommy turned his toe in the dirt. His hunger for the truth had outweighed his humiliation. Within the span of a few minutes, he’d gone from killing mad to—

Prince Rats waved a hand and dismissed his throng of women. “Brother, I—”

Tommy shook his head. His pants had slid back to their normal position, revealing his paunchy belly. “I thought he was dead, having died a hero’s death on the high seas, he did,” Tommy whispered.

The prince started toward him, but Tommy backed up.