“So she’ll rest and not float, she will,” Tommy whispered. “She will,” he repeated.
The trio of pirates laced the rope through the crate, with Poison Lightning and Solo each taking an end. Tommy lifted the crate gently and placed it outside the ship. Solemnly, Solo and Poison Lightning began to lower Loreena’s little casket into the waves.
“Sleep well, little baby,” Tommy whispered. “Sleep well.”
A boom from our cannon, which we were never forced to use, made me jump. I grabbed Jack’s coat. One, then two, then three booms. I glanced at Jack. “French volley of fire. One for me, one for Loreena, and one for you.”
Jack cleared his throat as the smoke from the cannon fire hung low around us and continued, emotion crackling in his words as he read the same piece he’d read when we’d buried Monica Joan at sea. “For as much as it hath pleased Almighty God of his great mercy to take unto himself the soul of our dear daughter Loreena Jacqueline Rackham, here departed, we therefore commit her body to the deep, to be turned into corruption, looking for the resurrection of the body, when the sea shall give up her dead, and the life of the world to come through Our Lord Jesus Christ who at His coming shall change our vile body, that it may be like His glorious body, according to the mighty working, whereby He is able to subdue all things to Himself.”
When Poison Lightning and Solo nodded to Jack and held their rope, now emptied of its contents, my world began to spin. I heard Rusty call my name, but it sounded as though she was yelling in a dream. The feeling that I was falling, falling, falling was strong. But I never hit the ground.
I woke up tucked into my bed in the quarters I shared with Jack.
“Don’t try to move,” Rusty warned. “You passed out. You’re not well, Mama.”
“Where’s Jack?” I licked my dry lips. Everything in my mind was fuzzy. “The battle with Blackbeard—”
“They’re gone. Most of them dead. We won.” Rusty mopped my forehead with a wet rag. “You and Jack did Blackbeard in.”
“Loreena.” Her name brought an ache to my chest.
“We buried her, Mama.”
“I thought it was a nightmare.” My voice was a whisper. “Where’s Jack?”
“Jack’ll be back soon.”
“Back?” I tried to sit up but became so woozy that I collapsed back onto the bed. “Jacky?”
Solo’s face hovered above me, like faces do in dreams. “He’s gone ashore for you a doc.”
“Ashore? Where are we?”
“The Cape of Good Hope. South Africa.”
A smattering of tears fell from my lashes. “No, Solo. Not ashore—” I whimpered. “Pirate hunters—” I sucked in a deep breath, but more words wouldn’t come.
“He took Poison Lightning with him. They’ll be fine.” Solo patted my hand. “He gave us strict orders to look after you. You do what Jack wanted and just rest.”
My eyelids fluttered closed, but my mind refused to rest.
When I finally woke up, it seemed that I hadn’t rested at all. I sat up. “Where’s Jack?”
The room I shared with my husband was empty. I looked out the porthole.
Nothing for miles, only the open sea.
My stomach turned up in knots.
Weren’t we in port in South Africa? Did I dream that?
My aching muscles allowed me to move only so fast, but I finally made it up on deck. “Where’s Jack?”
Pitiful looks stared back at me. Rusty stood up and strode across the deck, a pout on her full lips and her thin arms outstretched.
“I’m sorry, Mama.”
I stepped back. “What happened?”
Solo drummed his fingertips on the side of the ship. “You were right about the pirate hunters, Red. Jack was spotted in town before he could get the doctor.”
I pulled my hands to my mouth. “No.”
Solo held up his palms. “Now hold on. They tried to get Poison Lightning, but Jack pretended he was a beggar. Kicked him and cussed him. Saved his life. Poison Lightning got away and came back to report to us. Jack’s on a pirate hunter ship bound for England. We’re trailing them.”
“Thank God.” I exhaled and shook my head slightly. “I knew we wouldn’t have just left him—”
Solo offered a smile. “We’ll get him back, Redella.”
“No.” Dark Water William rose up behind Solo like a demon. “We won’t.”
Before Solo could turn around, before anyone aboard could fathom what was happening or make a move to stop it, Dark Water raised a chunk of wood and brought it down hard on Solo’s head.
My princely friend, who had proven most loyal no matter the stakes, sunk to his knees, then fell over.
Dark Water’s thin lips pulled up into a wicked smile. “This is my ship now.”
Chapter Fourteen
