Page 16 of Escaping Pirates
“It seems that you have some business experience,” I commended him. “I wish I’d thought to request a contract.”
“Some lot of good it did me. I think I just contracted myself into courting two of the most repulsive women I’ve ever met.” Harlan glanced my way, then hurried over to hold up my arms again. “How long do they leave you like this?”
“Until they remember me or need something. It’s not so bad other than no rations and the pain. I’m not tied up all that often, just when I talk back.” I relaxed against his grip. “Are you going to sign the contract?”
“Probably. It won’t do anyone any good if I have to walk the plank.”
“The idea of having someone to talk to who isn’t a rat is an attractive notion,” I told him. “They aren’t the best conversationalists.”
“And it only comes as the cost of me dating two rats,”Harlan added glumly. “I guess we’ll just have to see what stipulations are placed on me.”
“You thought quickly. When I was taken, I was so busy throwing things overboard for my crew that I didn’t even think of asking for a contract.”
“You chose the better option. I would gladly trade my contract for being able to save even one of those men.”
“I’m so sorry.” How I wished I could throw my arms around him, but even if I could, I knew it would do nothing to lessen the emotional agony Harlan was suffering.
We didn’t have to wait long for Harlan’s contract to be delivered. By the time night had fallen, Captain Harsh and his girls were back. Blossom and Sugar both beamed from ear to ear and kept exchanging glances and squeezing each other’s hands. Harlan took the proffered contract and scanned it, his green eyes skating from side to side until they reached the bottom of the page.
He looked back up. “Where would I sleep?”
Captain Harsh’s eyes became slits. “Don’t assume your privileges during your time with my daughters mean privileges any of the rest of the time. You sleep here in the brig.”
“What about meals?”
“You’ll have dinner each night with my girls.”
“And how would I have the mental focus to entertain your lovely daughters if I’m so famished that my only thought is of my next meal?”
“Oh, Daddy!” Blossom waved her hand carelessly. “We can have Scurvyella bring him extra meals. I want him to be thinking aboutme, not food, when he comes to…call on me,” she added with a sigh.
“Call onus,you mean,” Sugar corrected.
“Fine,” Harsh spat. “Three meals a day, same as my crew. Now sign.”
“Not until those conditions are added. You can add an addendum on the back.” Harlan met Harsh’s gaze evenly, without a flicker of concern.
“Fine!” Harsh snatched the paper back, jotted down the additional clarifications, and shoved it back, at which point Harlan accepted the paper and signed his name in sharp, angular lines.
“I’ll send someone for you at dusk.”
“Scurvyella!” Blossom snapped. “We have a lot to do, don’t just stand there! Daddy, let her out so she can help us pick out outfits for tomorrow.”
It seemed that Captain Harsh’s affection for and over-protectiveness of his daughters worked out to Harlan’s advantage. Blossom and Sugar prattled on and on about what would be required of their new suitor and lamented the fact that their father hadn’t allowed them to demand hand holding or kissing out of concern for his daughters’ integrity. The notion that Captain Harsh was concerned with preserving his daughters’ virtue when he had threatened to sell me was the most ironic thing of all.
Harlan’s contract listed far fewer duties than what was required of me, but I would have much rather kept styling their hair forever compared to what Harlan was expected to do. The most physical requirement was dancing once a week and a chaperoned foot massage the day following the dancing. I could only imagine Harlan’s reaction once he got his first whiff of Blossom’s feet, which often had bits of gray lint sprouting between her toes. Each time I clipped her toenails, I would try to stuff my nostrils ahead of time toavoid the scent of rotten mushrooms that lingered about her feet. I made a mental note to pass the tip along to Harlan before he was required to rub oil onto the sisters’ feet.
All the next morning, I styled their hair and applied exotic cosmetics to Sugar’s and Blossom’s faces, cinched their corsets until they could barely breathe, and picked out the gowns that were best suited to their complexions and figures. Though the tasks were far easier than the scrubbing they often had me do instead, my lightheadedness from my incessant hunger made me slow and clumsy, which earned me several cracks over my wrists and knuckles with a spare hairbrush or shoe.
“Oh, go make yourself useful. Take my sweet Harlan his noon meal,” Blossom trilled.
“And tell him that Sugar sends her warmest regards!” Sugar interjected, handing over a handful of her precious butterscotch candies. “Give him these and tell him that it’s easy to know they’re from me, because Sugar is sweet.”
“And tell him that Blossom is hindered breathless at the thought of his masculinity!”
“Rendered,” I corrected under my breath as I stumbled down to the kitchens, where the heavy scent of a thick stew made my stomach growl in protest.
“Aye, the Cap’n said ye’d be taking that new lad his meals,” the cook, a large, beefy man named Thad, said. “Don’t steal any, mind.” He handed me a heavy platter with a generous portion of stew, a slice of thick sourdough bread, and two oranges.
