Page 31 of Pirate's Intent
She nearly said no but stopped. Because that would be a lie.
“I don't know,” she murmured, not ready to be so honest. Or was she? Maybe just a few more casually murmured words to see how he responded. “How could I hope such all things considered?”
The fact of the matter was she knew what she wanted. What she hoped for. Something he seemed to want too based on what he’d said. “Oh, my!” She widened her eyes when she recalled precisely what he’d whispered in her ear in the heat of the moment on his desk. “What do you mean we are going home?”
“Dress and join me,” he said softly, amusement in his gaze, no doubt at her delayed response. “Then we will talk of...you and me.”
Confused but curious, she dressed and followed him on deck, where he put a cloak around her shoulders to warm her against the chill. The navy ship sailed alongside them, and everyone seemed content enough. Along with a new bite to the air, the coastline’s trees and vegetation had once again changed.
She looked at Thomas. “Where are we?”
“Where you always wanted to go, Rose.” Seagulls cried overhead. “Though a means to escape then, you are going home now.” He pointed at the rocky shore ahead. “That is Plymouth Rock over there.” His eyes met hers. “We are here, love, even if it came many years later. Even if we had to live so much life in between to find our way back.” His eyes flickered from the shore to her. “We are in Plymouth Harbor. We have reached the Massachusetts Bay Colony...we finally made it.”
She glanced nervously from the navy ship to the shore. “But, you are a pirate.”
“Iwasa pirate.” He held out the scroll, reminding her. “Now, I am exempt by King and country and a merchant free to plight my trade.”
“Are you absolutely sure?” Baffled, she looked from the scroll to him. “Your men as well?”
“Free to do the same...with our thanks, of course.”
“Our thanks?”
“The eventual arrival of the brooch,” he revealed. “It will see us all very well off.”
“A brooch I had no idea was worth so much.” She shook her head, confused and worried anew. “What about my sister? Where's Hannah?”
“She is safe.” He grinned. “The signal was left a ways back. She is with my brother, and you will see her soon enough.”
“What signal?”
“A yellow ribbon tied around a tree,” he revealed. “Rest assured, your sister is most well.”
“Is Luke...” She looked left and right, not sure how loudly she should speak. “Do they know he defected too?”
“Yes.” He kept grinning. “Luke has given the signal that he has all the treasure and then some. That means the brooch too. Everything worked out precisely how we planned, and we are...”
When he trailed off, she looked at him in question. “What are we, Thomas?”
“You tell me.” He cupped her cheeks and finally asked what she had longed to hear. “Will you marry me, Rose? Will you become my wife?”
“In the midst of all this?” she murmured. “Not knowing...”
“Do you not know everything you need to?” he said softly. “Your sister is safe, and we are granted the King’s Pardon to start a new life...at last.” He looked at her with his heart in his eyes. “Is that not enough?”
It was everything she had been hoping for since her need to escape her uncle, then their first kiss. Then again, when he proposed before he went off to war.
“I would like nothing more, Thomas.”
So it was that they married, and Thomas’s ship was confiscated by the navy in payment for the Royal Pardon that should have come at no cost. Blackbeard and pirates of his ilk continued to roam the high seas, but most saw their end, including Blackbeard himself, the following year in the swift hands of justice. As far as they knew, Big Devil never discovered he had been duped, but then like Thomas said, he likely would not have admitted it anyway.
Against the odds, thanks to a well-laid plan and an underwhelming brooch, Thomas and Rose had at last found their happy ending. An ending that was very much a bright new beginning for generations to come.
TheEnd
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