hat and went on.
He loathed Eli Smith.
He was certain Eli Smith loathed him, as well.
Finally Friday arrived and Bartholomew made his way to meet Victoria.
As he moved through the streets, he noted that one of the town’s most fascinating women, Dona Isabella, was busy with a bevy of servants.
She was shopping. He’d heard it said that her husband, living in Spain, had tired of his wife’s idle days at their island property. He was demanding that she return to Spain.
Perhaps she was preparing for the journey. He stepped out of the way as she and her entourage passed; her eyes touched his. She didn’t smile or acknowledge him—he was beneath her. She should take care, he thought—there were still pirates aplenty in the water.
He passed some of the less scrupulous bars in the town, bars where it was said that pirates came, pretending to be good citizens of the town.
He knew of one pirate, Mad Miller, who often liked to come to Key West, to drink with the navy men. Despite his name, Mad Miller was not known for being a killer, just a thief. He was friendly with a bar wench, and it was said as well that he would come for her, and they would sail away together. He smiled, thinking that love knew no bounds.
He knew that so well himself.
He forgot the wretched Smith, the haughty Dona Isabella and the crazy pirate Mad Miller. He met Victoria, and, if possible, they made love more passionately.
“I leave with my mentor, Captain Beckett, on a fishing expedition with friends,” Bartholomew said. “I will be gone but overnight—or possibly for two nights. We are going out to catch majestic marlins, for he has friends who enjoy the fight of the fish. Perhaps, I can cancel—“
“No!” she said with horror, “you must not. People will notice that we are not about, doing as we would normally do.” She was quiet for a minute. “Bartholomew, I know how you love this place, how your dreams were here, but I believe we must run away.”
“My dreams are where you are. But we will not run away. Not unless forced in time. I love you, and I care not about any place, but I know that you love your father, and so I will try through my friend, Captain Beckett, to reach your father. Only if we are forced will we go. Let’s give it a few months. I would never have you resent me in time, hate me that you lost the love of your father.”
She cradled his face. “That you can care, when he has treated you so shabbily, makes me love you all the more.”
“Ah, well!” He caught her hand and kissed it. “I will not wait forever.” he teased. “There are places we can go. We can go to Jamaica, Bermuda or even New Orleans. I have friends there still,” he assured her.
“We will wait three months after your fishing trip,” she told him. “Not a day longer. And if we are forced to flee, then later when we have our own precious little daughter, he will make peace with us. He is, at the bottom of his heart, a loving man.”
He agreed; they kissed.
And they knew they must part.
Part II
Death
“Ah, what a beauty!” Captain Craig Beckett applauded, watching as Andrew Morton, a businessman from Key West and a good friend, reeled in a giant blue marlin, a magnificent fish in truth. “What a fine beauty! You’ve done yourself proud, Andrew!”
“Couldn’t have done it with the expertise of your young friend there!” Morton said, acknowledging Bartholomew.
“It was my pleasure, sir,” Bartholomew said.
“A round of rum, a mighty toast!” Beckett said, grinning. He looked at Bartholomew—a look that assured him that he was a good man, and a good man making the right connections.
“Rum, yes! Or grog, rather, I believe—we’ve sugared her down mightily and added a bit of water,” said Peter Yearling, another friend of Beckett’s, who worked as an architect.
“Grog, it is! Peter, soon enough Bartholomew is going to need your services, you know. You had best plan to cut him a fine deal. He’ll be running merchandise up and down the coast, and bringing back the finest goods from all over the world,” Beckett said, accepting the mug handed to him by the architect.
“A home!” Peter boomed. “Indeed, when you are ready, I will build you a fine home, my friend. And as it is done, I will keep the cost down for you—and expect the best in