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“And there she was, sitting in the corner, holding the gun she’d just shot me with. I swear, it’s the truth!” Tristan laughed with everyone at the table, glancing at me over the top of his wine glass as he took a sip, a happy sparkle in his eyes. He was dressed in his finest, in a long, black coat, white button up shirt, knee length pants, stockings, and buckle shoes. He’d shaved his face as well and had his hair trimmed back to its normal length.
The dining area was lined with large windows, showing views from all around the house and out into the garden. They were set into the white walls, pictures and tapestries hanging between them. It was a long room, with the stretched out table in the center, loaded with flowers and our feast, which was being served to us course by course. Gran sat at one end, her husband Brian at the other, with Tristan and myself seated in the middle with their other two houseguests.
“I hadn’t realized it was him when I fired,” I continued, smiling at the interested faces around me. “I was just trying to stay alive.”
“Brave girl,” Gran replied proudly. “I would have done the same.”
“Now, that’s not true, Gran,” Brian, a tall man with big owl eyes, said. “Ye would have taken the lot of them out single handedly and still had time for tea afterward.”
The table roared with merriment and she did as well, raising her glass to toast her husband before drinking deeply.
“So what then?” The man who asked was one of the members of company for the evening, named Mr. Allen. He was a heavier man, with spectacles that rested precariously on his nose, his wispy white hair slicked back.
“Before I could decide, the captain saw her, but he didn’t recognize her. So I said she’d joined up. That’s how she became a man on a pirate ship.”
“You never told us how you ended up on Oak Isle in the first place,” Brian butted in, looking at me curiously. “Just what were ye doing there?”
“I was on a walk from the mainland,” I replied, smiling. “It felt like as good a day as any for a swim, but I guess the ocean had a different mind for me.”
He nodded, seeming to accept my story. At the same time, I wondered if he was a Templar as well, checking to see if my tale held true. In any event, dinner continued on without interruption, another narrative starting up once mine had finished. As things began to wind down, my stomach full from the delicious meal, I sighed happily, simply enjoying being a part of it all. Tristan, who was sitting directly across from me at the large table, grinned, gesturing with his head toward the garden outside. Nodding slightly, I wiped my mouth with the cloth napkin in my lap.
“If ye’ll excuse us,” Tristan announced, rising. “Miss Greene and I need to discuss future plans to get her home.”
Standing as well, I beamed at everyone and moved around the table, thanking the men who’d risen as I left.
“They like ye,” Tristan said comfortably as soon as we were outside and away from prying ears.
“You think so?”
He took my arm, wrapping it around his own as we walked through the cool night air, following the wall line. The grass underfoot was soft and smelled sweet, flourishing in the southern climate. Everything felt so completely relaxed, like we hadn’t a care in the world.
“Gran would have told ye outright to go away if she didn’t like ye,” he chortled. “I’ve seen her do it before, to a minister who wouldn’t stop pestering her. But ye,” he stopped, turning to look at me as he pulled me up against him. “She likes ye. I can see it in her eyes.”
“I guess that’s good,” I laughed, leaning on him. “She is a wonderful woman. Very strong, I imagine.”
“Ye don’t imagine anything. She’s the strongest woman I know.”
Gazing up at the sky, I exhaled, taking in all of the stars. “I’ve never seen so many before,” I said, changing the subject. “They’re beautiful.”
“They are, aren’t they? Sometimes, when we’re at sea, I go out on deck and just watch them, wondering where they came from.”
“From far, far away I would think,” I answered quietly, continuing to stare.
“Sam,” he said uncertainly, after a few moments. “Will ye tell me more about yerself? I want to know ye, like I know the back of my own hand.”
Caught off guard, I peered into his eyes, seeing the honesty there and feeling my insides melt. “My parents are dead,” I whispered. “My mom was sick and my dad died on Oak Isle.”
Confusion flitted through his features, but he didn’t interrupt me, his mouth tightening as I continued.
“I don’t know how I got here. I shouldn’t even really be here. I was trying to finish the work he’d started and I got trapped. I was drowning. When I woke up, you were there. I need to go back so I can finish what he started, so I can get to the people who will be missing me.”
“What if I asked ye not to?” he questioned hoarsely, showing the first signs of fear I’d ever seen in him. “What if I asked ye to stay here?”
“With your gran?” I asked, surprised. Why would he want such a thing? To keep me from the treasure he knew was out there?
“No,” he answered, shaking his head. “To stay here with me. To not go home. To not finish yer family’s work. To let the people who miss ye continue to do so.”
Pulling away, I stared at him hard. “Why would you ask me to do that?” My heart was pounding, aching to hear what he had to say, but my brain was screaming to not listen, to run away before I was in deeper than I could handle. I barely knew this man. Sure, he was keeping things from me, but at the same time I wanted to stay as long as he would let me, as long as I would allow myself.
“Samantha,” he breathed, turning from me to look at the wall. “Yer going to think I’m crazy.” He laughed to himself, running a hand through his hair. He seemed to be battling over what to say, so I remained still, not knowing what to do or where to go. Eventually, he turned back to face me, taking a deep breath. “When I first saw ye—no.” He moved away again, rubbing his jaw, and sighed. Finally, slowly, his words began to flow, my attention anchored on the back of his head.
“When my da was alive, I asked him how I would know if I’d met the right woman, like he did with my ma. They were the perfect pair, the two of them. I’ve always wanted that, but didn’t ever think I would find it or could even have it.” He spun to look at me then, a hard edge to his expression. “I have secrets, lass. Ones I can not share with anyone, for all our safety.” He bit his lip, hesitating to go on, but the decision had already been made. “He told me that I would feel it when I met her, that I would just know. And I believed him. There have been times when I thought I felt what he was talking about, but now I know for sure I have.”
“Really?” I felt breathless and afraid, like I couldn’t stand on my own two feet while he spoke like this, and at the same time like I knew what he was talking about.
“I saw ye there, on the beach, those men all around ye, and it was like—like my soul had been screaming out in agony my entire life and I never knew it until I looked at ye. Because it stopped the second I saw ye.” Swallowing hard, he inched toward me, hesitation in his eyes. “I knew I had to help ye, to keep ye safe, because ye were different. Special. Do ye understand my meaning?”
Did I? Was love at first sight something I believed in? Could I believe that he loved me and knew so little about me?
“It’s not just that,” he continued when I didn’t answer. “It was watching ye brave the captain every day. Hearing ye tell me what ye thought instead of keeping it to yerself. Watching ye leave and thinking I’d never see ye again—god, it felt like I was dying—and then finding ye at the end of my pistol. Yer so brave, Samantha! Ye’ve been living among scallywags and murderers for weeks now and never even blinked! I watch ye with them and live in terror of the day they discover yer a woman, because I’ll kill them all if they lay a finger on ye. And then, I bring ye home to meet my family and ye fit right in, making them laugh and fall in love with ye in
minutes. How do ye do it? How do ye make me feel like this if ye aren’t a witch or a sea woman sent to drive me insane? I feel crazy and out of my mind, but the whole time my soul says I am at peace. I have found the one who completes me.” He stared at me in earnest, haltingly reaching out for me, his breath coming in short puffs.
A single tear rolled down my cheek and I saw him freeze, not knowing what else to say or do. Surprised, I reached up and wiped it away, looking at it on my fingers in awe. My heart was shattered, completely dashed against the hard truth of his words. No one had ever spoken to me with such honesty before or made me feel the way Tristan did right now. My own core was echoing his words, saying he was right, that we completed each other. He had saved me multiple times and here he was declaring I was saving him. There was so much that we didn’t know, that we couldn’t share with each other, but it didn’t matter. Not now, maybe not ever.
“Are you saying you love me?” I finally choked out, looking back at his face.
“Oh, aye. I am. I love ye very much.” He smiled softly at me, petrified in place, waiting for some sign from me.
Another tear rolled down my cheek and I laughed, wiping it away quickly. “Do you trust me when I say that I have things I can’t tell you? You told me that you had secrets, but I could trust you. Will you do the same for me?”
“I would do anything for ye, Samantha.”
“I have to go home,” I replied mournfully, my happy tears turning to those of sorrow. “I can’t tell you why, but I do.”
“I see.” He pulled away some, looking down at the ground. “I understand. Forgive me.” He hesitated for a second again, before moving past me, back towards the house.
“I love you, too,” I whispered as he passed by, reaching out and brushing his fingertips.
Stopping, he took my hand and dragged me to him, crushing his lips against mine, fingers pressing into my back as he held me to him. My breath, my heart, my everything stopped as I kissed him in return, tasting and falling into him like I’d never done before.
“Ye shouldn’t have told me,” he said breathlessly against me. “I could have convinced myself otherwise before, but now I will not be able to do anything other than follow ye to the end of the earth.”