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4/5 of Tessie’s Children belong to me, and so does Charlotte the Harlot, but some of the other characters are not mine but borrowed, and I make no profit from them.
All Tessie’s Children 4
“Kay, dearie, pass me that red cloth there, the piece by your side.” Tessie said, but her eyes weren’t on the cloth, they were trained on her grandson on the other side of the village clearing. Jonathon was hovering around Will Turner, who was trying to work at the smithy without causing the boy any harm.
“Marina’s young lad’s sure taken a shine to Will, eh?” Kay commented.
“Hmmm, takes a bit too much after his father. Doesn’t seem right somehow, does it?” Tessie quickly folded and basted a hem around the scrap of cloth so she could use it as a patch on one of the navy uniforms.
“Mum, that’s a bit hypocritical of you, don’t you think?” Anamaria said as she sat with her hands outstretched so Kay could wind the some cotton thread around them. “Seeing as your husband used to have the very same lover.”
Tessie looked as if she’d been slapped. “Hush now, lass. Don’t say such things!”
Kay laughed. “But it’s true, mum. Your own husband used to sleep with the lad’s father.”
“But William doesn’t know I know that! And I don’t want him knowing I know.”
“He must suspect.”
“Of course he does, child, but that doesn’t mean I have to confirm it for him. He’s never spoken of it to me, and that’s the way it’ll stay. Kay understands, don’t you, Kay? And you would to if you ever got yourself a husband, Anamaria. There’s some things you just don’t talk about if you want a successful marriage. It’s true, dearie. Aren’t I right, Kay?”
Kay pulled the skein of thread off Anamaria’s hands, and Anamaria threw herself down on the bench and looked up at Kay, with her chin cradled in her hands. “Oh do tell, sis, what do you keep hidden from your husband?”
Kay pushed her sister’s shoulder playfully. “Nothing. Mother is very old-fashioned don’t you listen to her. You don’t need to hide anything, from your husband or your girlfriend or anyone.”
“Oh really, Kay. So does Franklin know about you putting that kohl on the Captain to help him seduce our stepbrother?” Anamaria said, wickedly.
“How did you know about that?”
“Your little Kay told me.”
“Well, she had no business doing so! And yes, Franklin does know about that. He’s always been in favour of Will and Jack, anyway. He has no problems with men being together, and neither do I.” As long as he’s not one of them, she added happily to herself.
Anamaria peered over at Will, who was finishing his work and explaining what he was doing to the lad. Jonathon’s father emerged from the trees and watched the two of them together silently. “I wonder what those two hide from each other,” she said, pointing to Will and Jack.
Kay stared at Will for a moment. “I don’t suppose Will would hide anything.”
Anamaria snorted. “I don’t suppose Will would have anything worth hiding.”
Kay and Tessie both stopped what they were doing.
“Oh, don’t look so shocked. The boy had never been kissed when Jack first got his hands on ‘im. I could tell the first time I saw him in Tortuga. And besides, Marina told me all about Will.”
“How would Marina know Will?” Kay asked, confused.
“Oh, owning a brothel means you know everyone in town. She’d never seen him before the night he turned up at her place, but once she figured his name, she knew who he was. Hell, the local minister had a randier reputation than Will Turner.” Anamaria winced as Tessie smacked her arm for the blasphemy. “Not that that hasn’t stopped him from making up for lost time.” She nodded toward Will, who had sent Jonathon off to find Young Frank, and was now advancing steadily on the eager captain.
Tessie sighed. “Can’t really blame Jack, can you. I mean, Will is the spitting image of his father.”
Kay chuckled. “So we’ll be keeping our eyes on you, mum, to make sure you don’t snatch him out from under Jack’s watchful eye.”
Tessie giggled. “I’m more than happy with the senior Turner, thanks dearie. I’m just saying, I can see why Jack takes to him so.”
“Aye, same as Jacob,” Anamaria said.
“You mean Alphonse,” Kay corrected her.
“Hush!” Tessie said. “Your brother does not have his sights set on anyone other than Matthew!”
“That doesn’t mean he doesn’t appreciate looking at Will.”
“No, but I’m not talking abut Alphonse, I’m talking about Jacob.” Anamaria said knowingly. “Jacob told me himself. He was quite taken by Will from the start. I suspect that could be one reason he spends so much time away.”
“I thought he wanted to be alone with that nice Mr. Gillette,” Kay said.
Anamaria stiffened. She didn’t like to think about the man who failed to get her girlfriend pregnant. “That fop? Please, I think our brother has better taste than that.”
Tessie shook her head and ‘tsk tsk’ed. “I had hopes for those two, but Mr. Gillette seems to be set on admiring from afar. It hasn’t gone anywhere for poor Jacob. And you say he actually fancies Will? Ooh, that’s a bit of a complication, wouldn’t you say?”
Anamaria shrugged. “I don’t think he’s in love or anything. I think he just likes the way he looks.”
Kay smiled. Will was leaning against a tree talking to Jack. His sleeves were rolled up and his hair was spilling out of its tie, falling across his face. He had one leg forward, calf rubbing against Jack’s calf, back and forth slowly, barely perceptibly but enough to make Jack stand up a little straighter. “I think anyone who likes men would like those looks.”
“He is very beautiful,” Anamaria snarled.
“Don’t be so put out, dearie. Charlotte won’t be getting anywhere near that one ever again. Especially not when Will finds out about what Jack’s done for him.”
“Aye, that was a lovely gesture. So he’ll be finding out tonight then?”
Kay nodded. “It’s all set for tonight after dinner. Oh, that reminds me, I should check on the stew.” She got up and went to the cook hut across the way.
Tessie and Anamaria watched Will twirl one of Jack’s dreadlocks around his finger.
Elizabeth walked into the shelter and sat where Anamaria had been. “So is that the favourite entertainment on this island then, watching Will and Jack?”
Tessie nodded. “They are interesting.”
Elizabeth studied the two men. They were roughly the same height, Will broader in the shoulders. They had their eyes locked on each other, as if no one else existed. And for them, no one else did exist. Elizabeth wondered if she would ever experience that. But then, she supposed, she did, just not as often. She and Alex were careful to only be intimate in absolute privacy, which seemed an unnecessary constraint on this island but had been a beneficial practice in Port Royal. But when they were alone, and Alex looked at her with those black penetrating eyes, she felt as if she were the luckiest woman on earth. She looked up to see Tessie staring at her.
“The Captain’s sister is a lot like him, then?”
Elizabeth shook her head. “Nothing like him. She’s well-mannered and proper and decent.”
“As long as she’s in public,” Anamaria added.
“What are you insinuating?”
“I’m just pointing out that the good lady has only been a member of the aristocracy for a short time. Before that, she was no more welcome in polite society than me or Jack or Charlotte.”
“She was born to the aristocracy,” Elizabeth protested.
“As was Jack,” Tessie pointed out. “And on this island, what you were born to only counts if you were born free. Why, my first husband was born a slave! We met just after he was freed, so I never knew him when he was a slave, but he never forgot it. He was a fine, hard-working man, and I’ll miss him every day, no matter how much as I love William. Now Matthew, he was born a free man, made a slave, and now he’s free again. We let people be what they want to be here.”
Elizabeth scrunched up her face. “I know. In Port Royal I’m the governor’s daughter, and here I’m barely tolerated.”
“That’s not true,” Tessie said. “You’re Alex’s girl, and believe it or not, that makes you part of the family.”
“Really?” Elizabeth looked as if she didn’t quite believe her.
“Why, Alex brought up my grandson, and did a fine job of it, so she’s like a daughter to me. And if I’m going to accept Charlotte as a daughter, well why would you be any different?”
Elizabeth thought about being on a par with Charlotte, and it did not entirely appeal to the cultured, highly civilized part of her, but that was a part she decided to consider to be far too snobby and antiquated. That morning she and Charlotte had gone to the springs and ended up regaling each other with tales of spying on Will and Jack together until they’d had to go off to find their respective girlfriends. She liked the woman, harlot or not. And, as an only child, she’d always wanted sisters and brothers. Having a family like this one, in which she and her lover would be welcomed warmly, was far more important that what the society ladies in Port Royal considered to be acceptable.
She smiled and watched Will and Jack wander off together, with Jack’s hand inching down the back of Will’s trousers. “What a pair,” she said quietly. She turned back to Tessie. “I met your son, Jacob, in Port Royal. I’d seen him before, in uniform. He looks quite different now. I used to think he was… um….”
“White?” Anamaria prompted her.
Elizabeth blushed.
“That’s a’right, dearie. Don’t be embarrassed. His father was a British seaman.”
“Really?” Elizabeth didn’t know what else to say.
“Yes, nice man he was. Unfortunately, he was only around for a few weeks. He had a wife back in England, and a few sons, I think. Shame he didn’t tell me about them until the day he left. But I was needing some company after my first husband died, and he was pleasant company while it lasted. And I got me a fine son out of it, even if he did turn navy for a spell.” Tessie finished sewing the patch on the uniform. “Well, I’d say this is ready for Okonkwo to wear. I’ll take it to him now.”
Tessie brought the jacket to the healer, and he was very happy to have it mended. Then she went to the woodshed to gather some fuel for cooking dinner. She jumped when she heard a noise at the far end of the pile. Expecting a rat from one of the ships, she brandished a large tree branch and jumped out at the end of the pile.
Will yelped a little when he spotted the branch aimed at his skull. Jack looked up from where he was tonguing Will’s bared navel. “Hello Tessie, luv, you don’t mind do you? A touch private like, this is.”
Will pushed Jack’s face away from his belly. “Hello Tessie, um, mum.” He blushed beautifully.
Tessie tried to look upset, but running across the two of them like that had been done so often by so many people it was hardly cause for concern anymore. She busied herself collecting wood for the fire. “That’s fine, Will dearie. Aren’t you supposed to be having dinner with Kay tonight? You’d best go wash up.”
Will nodded and rushed off, still blushing.
Tessie turned her gaze hard on Jack. “Hardly proper behaviour. What if I’d been one of the children, eh? You’ve got a ship anchored in the cove where you are free to do as you like, so around here I’d appreciate a little more prudence from the likes of you. Not only are there the children already here,” she paused to run a hand over the slight swell of her belly, “but there are new ones on the way! Your filthy pirate ways will not be tainting my new child, or my new grandchild, which is your child, so you’d best learn how to behave proper! You should know better, Captain!”
Jack apologized profusely and promised to go back to his ship forthwith, with much bowing and waving of hands.
Tessie grinned. She hated to admit it, and she certainly didn’t want to show it in front of Jack, but she was becoming quite fond of the pirate, in spite of his inability to control himself around his young man. Actually, that was one of the things that endeared her to him. She knew he would never do anything to hurt Will, and since Will was her son, and Jack had, as it turned out, fathered two of her grandchildren – she said a little prayer for the safe carrying and delivery of Anamaria’s baby – that would make him…
…well, on second thought, maybe she didn’t have to go quite so far as accepting Captain Jack Sparrow as one of her children. After all, she’d already taken in that Elizabeth today. There was a limit to how generous one mother could be.
Next: Chapter 85 Meant To Be
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