Chapter
16
“WHAT?”
“Nicholas! Let him
go,” Brist commanded with a deadly softness. She squeezed his wrist
to convey her point. Slowly, Nicholas forced his fingers to release
the slave’s arms.
“You
are lying,” he accused.
“You
know me, I’m no liar,” the slave stated, infinitely relieved to
have Brist there to defend him. “The sailor also said that they
know which pirate did it, for while they were occupied trying to save
survivors, the “Pirate’s Rose” nearly caught them too.”
Nicholas’
features mirrored the black rage that was rolling over him, causing
him to ball both of his hands into fists.
Brist
thanked the slave for telling them the news, then grabbed Nicholas’
arm, and forcefully dragged him out of the room, and into the master
suite.
“You
have every right to be angry,” she stated. “However, you aren’t
going to be able to do anything productive until you get it out of
your system. So, go ahead, rage at me.”
Nicholas
turned away from her, and Brist handed him an oil lamp. Nicholas
stood still as a statue, and simply looked at the lamp for several
long moments, then without warning, he lost his battle to control
himself, and hurled the lamp at the wall with as much force as he
could.
“Good.” Brist
handed him another fragile item, this time it was a pitcher, she held
onto its matching basin so that it could be sacrificed next. They
continued in this vein for some time until they ran out of things for
him to throw, and Brist could tell his rage had not yet burned itself
out, so she braced herself, and slapped him full across the face. Not
hard, but enough to direct his attention at her.
He
lashed out in retaliation, and soon Brist was acting like a coach
sparring with an overly enthusiastic, and not very skilled student.
She remained on the defensive side for most of the bout, easily
deflecting even his most viscous blows easily, and only going on the
offensive when it looked like he would try to end the match before he
had expunged his rage.
Finally, Brist could
tell his rage was spent, and she backed off in order to allow him to
cool down. Nicholas collapsed onto his bed, refusing to show weakness
by shedding tears. Brist sat down beside him, and began to rub his
back. She had no compunction about shedding tears for the members of
her family who had been murdered by pirates.
Her
tears fell silently for some time, and Nicholas became aware of them
only when he felt moisture land on his face. For a moment he thought
that they were his own tears, and that he had failed to keep them
back, but then he realized that the hands on his back, the hands that
were trying very hard to offer him comfort, were trembling slightly,
and that her breathing was heavy. He sat up, and gathered her in his
arms, and for some reason, now that he held her, and tried to comfort
her, his own tears refused to remain unshed.
*******
“Brist!”
“Nicholas!”
“Come
out!”
“It’s
past noon!”
“Honestly!”
“The
two of you,”
“Do
nothing but mate these days!”
The
twins shouted, each completing the other’s sentence as they pounded
on the door.
“The
door’s not locked!” Nicholas called, indicating that they should
enter.
The
twins found their older brother locked in an embrace with their
relative from the distant future. “Oh really!” They gasped. “If
you aren’t being decent, you shouldn’t invite us in!”
Brist let out a new
round of muffled cries at their obliviousness. Her head was buried in
Nicholas’ shoulder, and Nicholas laid his head against hers. The
twins noticed that his eyes were red and puffy, and that his face
was shiny from still wet tears.
“What
happened?”
“What’s
wrong?”
“The
Regina has…gone down.” Nicholas sniffled, fresh tears welling in
his eyes. Each adult took a very distraught twin into their arms, and
let them cry until they had no more tears left to shed, for the day
anyway.
The next few weeks were sad. Nicholas,
who benefited from Brist’s sweet charms, recovered fairly quickly,
and resumed life while patiently waiting for the dreaded days when
his brothers returned. The twins recovered shortly thereafter. They
knew their parents wouldn’t want them to grieve forever, and
besides, Brist was teaching them new things to occupy their minds.
On
December 11th,
Brist discovered that she was pregnant, but decided to wait for a
special moment to tell Nicholas. On the 13th,
Thomas arrived.
“Can’t
stay more than two or three days, Nicky,” he blurted the moment he
say his brother.
"I’ve
given orders in port to postpone all departures indefinitely,”
Nicholas replied.
“No…
no! I am an adult now, and you can’t -”
“Listen,
Thomas… Mum and dad were… killed by pirates before they got two
days out of port. As soon as all of us are here, we’ll hold a
memorial in their honor. Thomas was too stunned to reply for several
long moments, and then he experienced all the stages of grief that
his siblings had.
The
same scene replayed itself over and over during the next two weeks as
Richard, Jonathan, and Gregory returned. By about a week before Lucas
was due to return, Morgan and Curtis had arrived.
On
January 10th,
exactly 3 months from the day he’d left, Lucas returned with his
bride and Sarah in tow. The whole family was waiting for them by the
time Lucas actually reached the stables, and they stared at the tall,
plain, brunette. Brist was the first to break the silence.
“You
must be the wonderful new Mrs. Evans, welcome!”
Lucas’
brothers all frowned in disbelief.
The
woman smiled warmly, “Yes, I’m Angeline, and you must be Brist.
I’ve heard so much about you.” Just then, Sarah jumped from
Angeline’s arms to Brist’s.
“Mummy
Brist! You’re so beautiful! Guess what… I can see again. The
doctor we visited said that it was just a matter of getting over my
shock and fear,” Sarah babbled. “I had so much fun, I was the
bouquet holder in Lucas and Angeline’s wedding, and-” She was cut
off by a loud chorus of, “Wedding?!”
After
that, Brist couldn’t make head or tails of the ruckus that happened
when everyone tried to talk all at once. She smiled at Angeline, and
helped the lady off her horse. Placing an arm around her, she bade,
“Welcome to the family! Don’t worry, they’re not always this
bad, just when they’re arguing.”
“Well!
I didn’t think Lucas had an argumentative bone in his body, and
just look at him shouting the loudest,” the new wife chuckled.
In
the midst of the argument, where no one could really hear anyone
else, they all managed to hear Angeline’s soft question. “Where’re
David and Regina? I can’t wait to meet them.” Everyone fell
silent, even Lucas, once he realized that he was the only one still
shouting.
“Did
I say something wrong?” Angeline asked.
“I
have bad news,” Nicholas announced. “They’re dead.”
Brist
would never know exactly why, but even after most everyone had worked
through their grief, one by one, they all started to cry, even
herself, Sarah, and Angeline. Of them all, only Nicholas did not cry.
He stood strong as the new head of the family, bowing his head in
honor. This made Lucas cry all the harder as he wondered how Nicholas
had managed to cope with the grief.
*******
Three days later, the entire family
stood aboard the David - Regina’s ship - which had sailed to the site
of the pirate attack, to the best of their knowledge. The David stood
proudly in the middle of the entire Evans fleet of 15 ships. Everyone
who knew David and Regina personally had misty eyes, except those
who’d had time to work through their grief.
“I
only knew David and Regina a few short days, but I loved them as my
own parents. It was a grave day when the pirates stole such wonderful
people from their loved ones. I just know that they are watching over
us, touched by how many people cared about them. I truly believe that
they would not want us to be sad for long, and would take an
opportunity to remind us that due to a last minute decision, their
beloved daughters did not die with them.” Brist took a moment to
kiss a white rose she carried, and then tossed it overboard. “Good
bye, you will be missed.”
“Very
eloquent,” Nicholas murmured, and gave her a small but grateful
smile. He wasn’t sure he’d be able to maintain his composure if
he said anything else, so he simply kissed his own white rose, and
threw it overboard.
The
twins followed suit, saying, “We shall always remember the good
times and be grateful. Thank you for all you have done for us. We
love you.”
The
rest of the family added their roses to the ocean, including Sarah
and Angeline. Angeline added, “I feel as if I am losing my own
parents, and even though I have never met you, I’ll miss you. Rest
in peace.”
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