The Bride of Blackbeard (9 page)

There was a moment’s complete stillness in
the water. The only sounds in the silent, close air were the waves
licking at the sides of the ship. Then sound ripped through the air
as the fleut recommenced firing upon the
Queen Anne’s
Revenge
.

“Prepare to board and slaughter.”

~ * ~

Stanzy pulled the puppies away from their
mother one at a time to examine them. “Lucian, these dogs are
beautiful. The boys are going to be so thrilled to have them.”

“Yes. Ben has been waiting for weeks and
asks
every
day if they have arrived. I am sure Will and
Lucas will want one, too.”

“Well, of course! What self-respecting boy
does not want a dog? Lucian, what if we give one to Megan?”

His face clouded and he stared off into the
fields of tobacco for a moment as if searching for an answer.

Finally he returned her gaze with a sad
expression. “Stanzy, you know I love the little lass like she is my
own, but I am afraid she will maim or kill the pup.”

“I understand how you feel. But she has
never been given a chance, Lucian. She has only been out of that
room a handful of times since she was two, and each time
accompanied by you. Let me try. I will watch her, and I won’t leave
her alone with it unless I am certain it is safe.”

“All right. But I would keep it close to
your chest.”

“We have many secrets, Lucian. First, that I
am to be your bride, and now a puppy for Megan!”

He leaned over the basket and kissed her
hard on the lips. ”Stanzy, I know you want to wait ‘til everyone is
more settled, but I am not sure I can. Let me come and sleep in
your bed tonight. I promise to be a gentleman, but I spend half my
nights thinking of you anyway. I might get more sleep if I could
feel you beside me.”

“I will think about it, but we would have to
be very careful. You know how steeped in tradition this entire
plantation is. Lucian, I need to tell you something.”

Here it is. If he is true, he will not doubt
me.

His eyes, darting back and forth across the
fields, snapped back to her with such intensity it took her by
surprise. “What is it?”

“I received a letter.”

“Yes, go on. Speak plainly.”

“It was from Edward Teache. He asked for my
hand in marriage.”

Lucian stood so quickly it knocked her off
balance. She was taken aback as he paced to and fro across the
school room floor, muttering. ”This will not do. No this will not
do at all.”

“Lucian—”

“How long have you known this?” His eyes
went wild and pupils became a pinprick. His dark hair fell across
his forehead and he swiped it out of his face in irritation.

“A-about two weeks... I was going to tell
you, but I did not want to intrude on our happiness.”

“Stanzy, obviously you do not realize the
gravity of this situation. Teache is very dangerous; I did not want
you to know
how
dangerous as I did not want to alarm
you—”

“Alarm
me
? Someone who has been
caring for herself and two siblings—one a mere baby—since she was
sixteen years old? Who traveled across the Atlantic without male
escort? I do not need your protection, I need your honesty!”

“And I yours!” He stormed out of the school,
throwing the door open so hard it hit the wooden frame with an
earsplitting clatter.

Pulling the smallest pup to her, she nuzzled
its fur, taking deep breaths...the boys would be in any minute to
start their lessons and she dared not let them see her so
vexed.

~ * ~

The sun was a mere amber slit in the sky and
an autumn wind howled outside the school room door, warning the
world winter was coming. Stanzy had missed the dinner hour, but
after the row with Lucian, she had no appetite. Besides, the boys’
papers awaited correcting and she needed to analyze her plan of
action with Megan. She found contemplation impossible in the estate
house, what with the vast array of servants and constant flurry of
activity. In the solitary nature of the school cottage, she did her
best thinking.

She slid out her mother’s old notebook
containing handwritten concoctions of herbal remedies and common
maladies. Running a hand over it, her fingertips caressed the cover
gently.

I miss you so much, Mama.

It seemed so long ago she’d been taken away.
Stanzy found it difficult to remember the time before her death. A
time when Stanzy would do her best to stay happy despite the
drunken rampages and fights that inevitably ensued between her
father and mother. She examined her mother’s perfect penmanship and
traced over it with her fingers.

BANG!

The door burst open and collided with the
side of the schoolhouse.

She looked up expecting to see a swirling
wind, but filling the doorway, was her supposed betrothed, Edward
Teache. Her breath left her chest at the sight of him. Gone was the
slicked hair and clean-shaven face. His disheveled hair stuck out
at all angles. His beard covered his face up to his eyes and
twisted weirdly into strange worm-like tangles. The distinct smell
of saltpeter and lime and...gunpowder permeated the schoolroom
air.

“Allo, Constanza. I assume you received my
letter of intention? Please excuse me looks, I was in a bit of a
hurry to get over to StoneWater. Have you collected your bags?”

“Mr. Teache...”

“Edward, now...surely a husband and wife
should start by calling each other their God-given names...I have
already spoken to Hopkins, and he approves of the match as long as
you are still to stay on as his children’s teacher.” He advanced
closer to her.

“I am afraid I am already betrothed to
another, Edward.”

“How can that be so? I only left you a
fortnight ago, and you were well on your way to spinsterhood
then...which I cannot understand with one as pretty as you...and
your
deformity
does not bother me a whit.” That said, his
powerful arms swept her into an embrace and he shoved his tongue
into her mouth.

Retching, her fists beat uselessly against
his bulk. Her hand pushed against his chin, and she vaguely
registered hemp ropes woven into that formidable beard.

The sound of the pistol cocking reverberated
through the empty schoolhouse.

“Step away from her, Teache. I prefer not to
shoot a man in the back, but I will if I have to.”

“Ahh...Lucian Blackwell. Well, let me
guess...are
you
my rival?” He glared at Constanza. “You
chose a farmer over what I could provide for you? And I thought you
were the most clever woman I had ever met.” He released her, but
not before he had wound a handful of her long, dark hair into his
fingers. “This is not over.”

Lucian kept the pistol cocked and pointed at
Teache’s head. He followed him out the door, watching him walk
away. Pausing at Constanza’s side, he said without looking at her,
“This all could have been avoided if you'd been forthright with me
from the beginning.”

~ * ~

Staring out into the starry sky Stanzy
couldn’t sleep despite the late hour. The rocking chair in
Katrina's room had beckoned her, where she sat wondering how her
sister fared with the master and mistress of Hawthorne House. She’d
been gone for nearly a month and Stanzy missed her terribly,
despite their frequent bickering.

Will's loud snoring filtered in from the
adjoining bedroom. Tiptoeing to the doorway, she permitted the
comforting picture to soothe her anxious soul. Jack lay snoring in
unison with his master at the bottom of the bed, and the new pup
curled directly under Will's outstretched arm. Well, at least one
of us is happy, she pouted. And she hated pouting and people who
pouted!

Although she didn’t want to admit it, she
was still shaken by the encounter with Teache.

The door to the servants' back stairwell
flung open, smacking the wall with its force. In charged Lucian
with a small frightened man in tow.

“Stanzy, this is Pastor Brooke. He agreed to
come and perform our marriage vows.”

Well, so much for being quiet. “What,
Lucian, have you gone mad? When the Hopkinses return, they are
going to be livid.”

“No one saw us arrive, but please, we have
to make haste!”

“Yes, Lucian has been a friend for years,
and when he made me aware of the situation...” The pastor’s eyes
dropped uncomfortably to her middle.

“Lucian, you told him I was pregnant?”

“I had to! To get him to come tonight, and
besides, perhaps by tomorrow morning you will be...”

She stared incredulously at him, but the
impulsive fool was smiling from ear to ear, the previous irritation
completely forgotten. “I will say it again,” she reiterated,
shaking her head. “You are like no one I have met before...”

~ * ~

Later, when he laid her onto the bed, she
saw his eyes fill with apprehension, or perhaps regret. “You
deserve so much better than this, but I am afraid Teache will
return. I felt if we were already wed, it would dissuade Hopkins
from just turning you over to him, like the coward he is. When
everyone knows we are wed, we will have a gathering, with food and
music.”

Stanzy lay back on the bed and tugged his
waist close to her with both feet. “I do not need parties and
games. I just need you,” she whispered sincerely.

The next morning, she felt him slide over to
her again for the third time since last night. He raised onto one
elbow. “You are so beautiful.”

The door to her room opened. Bess stopped
mid-walk and dropped the sheets she carried to the floor. Worse
yet, behind her in the hall, Mr. and Mrs. Hopkins stood, mouths
agape, staring at the spectacle of the two of them entwined in the
sheets...and one another.

~
Chapter Five
~

Lucian sat in front of Hopkins’ desk, his
fingers fumbling as he tried in vain to lace his shirt. “I already
explained this...we are wed!” Raising his hand, he showed Hopkins
the ring—for the fourth time. “I know Teache will return and we
both know bloody well he does not take no for an answer with
anything!”

“Yes, I fear for all on this plantation for
what you have done.” Hopkins slammed his fist on the desktop. “You
should have just let him have her Lucian. This town has any number
of women more than willing to bed the likes of—”

The rest of his diatribe was cut short by
Lucian’s fist colliding with his mouth. A trickle of blood trailed
to his chin. He angrily swiped it away.

“That is my wife you are speaking of, you
pompous moron! And it is not what
I
did. It was what
you
did. Perhaps if you would have put as much time into the
tobacco as the bloody storehouse and cellar full of rum, we would
not all be in this quandary in the first place. Yes, I know about
all of it. Nothing happens on this plantation that I do not know
about. I will finish out the year and crop season here, and then I
want what was promised to me—my land. Then I am taking Constanza
out of this house. If she decides to continue teaching will be her
decision.”

He stormed from Hopkins’ presence. Kicking
open the front door, he left it to blow back and forth in the
morning wind.

~ * ~

Pilot flipped his head in the air in protest
as Stanzy mounted him in the dim morning light. She adjusted
herself in the saddle as he performed a skitterish dance,
expressing his dislike at having to leave his barn at four thirty
in the morning.

She couldn’t sleep. The encounter with
Edward Teache the evening before at the schoolhouse had made her
realize how terribly vulnerable she was on the plantation. Teache
was free to roam unchecked about the land, nay even encouraged to
do so by her employer. She felt the rogue could be behind any tree
or building on the property.

No doubt, she could depend on Lucian to come
to her aid in a heartbeat, but she was also aware that every day,
from sunup to sundown, he was miles away in the fields. Far out of
earshot of any cries for help.

I am going to conceal a weapon on my
person every day. The lecher could show up anytime he has a mind
to...with that witless employer of mine
.

“Come on, Pilot,” she nudged. The horse
quickened his gallop.

Momentarily closing her eyes as the wind
blew across her face, she savored the feeling of sitting atop the
magnificent, powerful creature as he pelted forward. Weaving him
along the stone walls that outlined the manor’s property, the
labyrinth of rocks reminded her of her mother’s
homeland—Ireland.

She wondered if the architect of these walls
had called Ireland his native land as well. From childhood she’d
been raised on Irish folklore and tales. Her mother hadn’t been a
stupid woman. On the other hand, her grandmother had more than
likely been insane, not just exceedingly peculiar.

Alone, perched on top of Pilot, seemed to be
another way she could think clearly. She was perpetually surrounded
by children, or other hired hands. Her mind was in need of
solitude. Something vexed her, something keeping her from enjoying
the happiness of her new marriage. The dubious problem pricked her
conscience like a thorn on a rosebush. She tried to deny the source
of the anxiety, but it was time to face it.

Contained in a portion of the letter from
Teache that she’d destroyed after reading it was:
“Ye will be
wantin’ to accept me offer, for as ye are probably aware, there be
curses that happen on women who refuse a pirate’s offer to wed. And
I be likin’ ye too much to hand ye that fate
.”

This was a ridiculous notion, she well knew,
and her scientific brain, inherited undoubtedly from her father,
scoffed every time the concept entered her conscious thoughts.
However, her
feelings
kept nagging at her, and a sense of
dread drenched her heart as she mulled the pirate's words over and
over in her head.
She had to get control of her mind.