“Captain,” Solo interrupted. “Help your wife. Hold her steady.”

Jack did as he was told. “It’s going to be over soon,” he whispered. “And I’ll be here the whole time, by your side.”

Inside, worries and thoughts mixed together until I was afraid I’d be sick. So many things to worry about, to plan, to fix, to prepare—

“Jacky,” I managed. “Where are we?”

“Sailing south along the coast of Africa. Why do you ask?”

I curled my fingers into our bedsheets. I managed a smile as I leaned against him. “So we can tell our Loreena Jacqueline Rackham where she was born.”

Solo’s voice came from behind me. “Push with the next pain, Redella.”

Something deep inside me that shouldn’t have been bothered burned like fire with a sudden, sharp burn. I let go a yell before I could help myself.

“No. No yelling.” Solo’s voice was sharp. “Take all that breath and use it to push your baby out.”

Rusty’s excited voice tolled like a church bell. “I see feet!”

I leaned against Jack on wobbling elbows. Big drops of sweat dripped down my nose, wetting our sheets. “I’m going to split in two!”

“One more big push and we’ll be almost finished.” Solo’s voice was calm again as he reported from between my legs.

Someone banged on the door. “Cap? Cap!” Dark Water’s deep, throaty voice sounded worried. “We have a problem.”

“Rusty, can you come up here with your mother?” Jack stood up, but didn’t move from beside me until Rusty was there. He dropped his voice low. “Dark Water wouldn’t have come down unless it was life or death.”

“Is—is—all right?”

Rusty sounded like she was smiling. “Everything’s fine. Probably just the storm, is all.”

I gripped the blankets into sweaty knots as the next pain took hold of my body. I gritted my teeth and tried not to yell. Instead, I pushed with every ounce of energy I had left. My insides were on fire and I may well have been pushing a bag of rocks out of me.

With my bottom half in the air, I lay my head on my pillow.

“She’s born.”

The lack of emotion in Solo’s voice didn’t go unnoticed. “Why isn’t she crying?” I tried to move, but Rusty stopped me.

“Don’t move, Mama. The afterbirth has to come.” Her usually chipper voice was notably muted. “I know that much.”

“What’s wrong?”

Rusty mopped my forehead and smiled at me. “I love you, Mama.”

Tears welled in my eyes, but it wasn’t because of the final pain that delivered the afterbirth. It was from something else.

“Solo,” I begged.

“Rusty. Go get Cap. Now.” He patted my lower leg. “Red, you can lay down.”

I let my quivering frame fall into the sweaty sheets and sniffled. “What’s wrong? Please tell me.”

Solo sucked in a breath as Jack flung open the door. The hopefulness in my husband’s eyes drained as he looked at both Solo and me. I saw Solo shake his head before turning his attention back to me. “How long ago did she stop kicking and moving about, Redella?”

I licked my lips and tried to remember the last time I felt my daughter move. “Well before we landed in Madagascar. I thought it was normal for her to calm down. Felt a bit like she dropped. Thought it was normal. Wait—” I struggled to sit up on my elbows. “You said she.”

Solo’s hand fluttered down to my arm as Jack reappeared. “Redella, she didn’t make it.”

“No.” I pushed his hand off my arm. “Let me see her.” I glanced to Jack for help. He stood at the foot of our bed, arms crossed across his chest. “Jacky, let me see her.”

Jack’s eyes shimmered. “She’s been gone awhile, Red. She doesn’t look like a baby.” Jack pointed down to her. “Solo, what’s that?”

“A knot. In the cord.”

“My God,” I whispered. “Loreena Jacqueline.”

“Loreena Jacqueline Rackham,” Jack echoed. “Let her mother hold her, Solo.”

Another bang on the door made me jump. “Cap. Cap!”

Jack let out a huff.

“What’s going on out there,” I asked. Though my insides were so numb, I didn’t care to listen. However, I wanted Jack with me, not out there with them.

“We’re in Blackbeard’s waters.”

“I’ve heard of Blackbeard—”

Jack shared a look with Solo. Even in my state, in our stuffy stateroom, I sensed doom. “He is also known as Edward Teach. At least that was what he went by when we were acquainted before.”

I looked up at my husband, silently begging him to continue.

“He is under the impression that my—that our—ship, The Revenge is, well—” Jack took a deep breath and let it out slow. “His.”

I chewed my lip. “Is that why Dark Water came down? To tell you?”

Jack nodded. “Blackbeard sent over a dinghy and kindly gave us an hour to get out of his territory. Or give back his ship. Though it was never really his. It was a misunderstanding.”

Solo’s brow furrowed. “An hour? By God that’s impossible and he must know—”

Jack looked at Solo and flipped back his cape. His steel caught a glint of light from the porthole and shone in his scabbard. “He knows. And our hour is up.”

Something shrouded Solo’s face before he remembered the task at hand. He forced a smile and placed my daughter in my arms. From the corner of my eye, I watched as Jack turned on his booted heel and whisked from our room.

“T-thank you, for everything Solo,” I managed. But the emotion came quicker than I imagined and drown my words. Deep sobs roiled up from the painful depths of my tender gut. Rusty circled her arm around my shoulder.

“Loreena Jacqueline is a beautiful name for a beautiful baby sister,” she cooed.