Free The Bride of Blackbeard by Brynn Chapman

wife?”
    He looks so vulnerable. I have never met
anyone who could be so self-assured one moment, as when he stood up
to Teache, or when he looked so frightened of me, a woman, as if I
have the power to strike him down.
    She swallowed hard. Never in her wildest
imaginations had she thought this day would come for her. Long ago
she’d resigned herself to being alone.
    “Yes, Lucian, I have never wanted anything
more in my life.”
    The joy on his face mirrored her own
elation. Reaching for her, he pulled her down to the floor. He lost
his balance and took her with him, falling in a heap of arms and
legs.
    Bess guffawed and added, “They are perfectly
matched—perfectly insane.”
    ~ * ~
    Constanza walked across the dim apartment
toward Megan's bed. Bess felt Meg had to be sick as she hadn’t so
much as ventured out of her bed for a whole day. Her tiny body was
wrapped in the blanket so tight, Stanzy was afraid she might
smother herself.
    Megan began to cry in earnest as soon as
Stanzy touched her back. Peering under the covers she saw Meg
cradled a doll to her chest. This doll wasn’t like the others she’d
decapitated or maimed. It was soft, and she desperately clung to it
as she sobbed.
    I knew she was in there, stuck in her
mind…
    Empathy was an easy emotion to feel toward
this tiny, sick creature whose parents no longer visited her, who
perpetually felt uncomfortable in her own skin, and who was unable
to communicate even her most basic needs. Life could be crueler
than death at times.
    Stanzy swiped at her face, surprised at the
tears wetting her hand. Groomed from an early age as a physician,
she’d been taught to be stoic and logical despite the pressure or
situation, and above all else, to assist the patient in feeling
safe and cared for. She’d successfully remained emotion-free for
amputations, births, and even an occasional death—however, children
were different for her.
    This child was different.
    She’d pierced through Stanzy’s protective
bubble like a needle through parchment paper.
    “Meg. Meg, sit up.”
    Meg stared at her from under her blanket
cave.
    Constanza raised her hands and performed the
sign ‘mama.’ Meg sat up suddenly and grabbed Stanzy’s hands and
shook them. Stanzy quickly performed the sign again, then Meg took
her hand and imitated the gesture.
    “Yes! Yes! Mama!” Stanzy stood up and
shouted an unrefined whoop of glee loud enough to send Bess flying
up the stairs.
    Then the realization dawned on her. “Honey,
I am not your mama.”
    Meg continued to stare at her and performed
the sign again.
    “Bess, I am just going to permit her to call
me it, as it is the first attempt to communicate I have ever
seen.”
    “She can call you cat vomit if she wants,
for all I care. You get her to talk and I will be sure to tell
Hopkins it was all your doin’. Then that Teache feller won’t have
no chance of sweepin’ you outta here!”
    “How did you know about that?”
    “You ought to be more careful where you
leave your personal effects layin’ open for the world to see. Does
Lucian know about the proposal?”
    Stanzy cast her eyes down and nipped her
lower lip. “No. I haven’t spoken of it to him. I didn’t want to mar
the memory of Lucian proposing to me.”
    “Only thing that is marred is your dress,
from rollin’ ‘round on the kitchen floor with him. You best tell
him soon.”
    “I will.”
    Two hours later, Stanzy walked down the
stairs, nursing an open wound to her arm where Meg had clawed in
frustration when she couldn’t comply with her requests. At the
kitchen sink, she began to clean the wound, wincing at the burning
pain. The door opened and the boys and Lucian emerged from the
field.
    Arms wrapped around her waist, until he saw
what she was doing. “Meg?” he asked pointedly.
    “Yes, but Lucian...she is signing...come
with me, you have to see her.”
    ~ * ~
    The sloop made its way through the narrow
azure waterway between Ocracoke Island and the