Page 91 of Maggie and the Pirate’s Son

Bash snorted. “Until they handed me over to him for the price of a meal.”

“Mmm,” Constantin agreed.

So many questions rattled around in his brain. Had the man visited more than once? Had he met Bash’s mother? Maggie and Constantin continued to eat, waiting for him to process it all.

“This fish is very good,” Maggie murmured. “What did you say it’s called?”

“Tuna,” Constantin said, holding out the dish to offer her more.

How could they go on eating like the world wasn’t spinning off its axis?

“How did my mother know where the gold was buried?” Bash interrupted them.

Constantin smiled. “I’ve only theories on that score.”

Bash glanced at Maggie with wonder, and then back to the captain.

“Amoy—your mother—and I were acquainted,” he began. “Because I was besotted with your Auntie Savryna. They lived together in that little house, and I stayed with them often when I had leave. I wanted to make Ryna an officer’s wife, so she could travel the world with me. But she’s determined never to leave Kingston. ‘Every ship needs a port to come home to,’ she always says.”

“Ryna?” Maggie gasped, a look of amazement dawning on her face.

Constantin nodded. “She makes very fine tea, does she not? After Cornelius’s heist, I tracked him to Kingston, and then lost him in the town, so I went to Ryna. I noticed fresh dug earth beneath a dogwood tree, but I was young and hot-headed. I didn’t care about the money. The baron had more wealth than any man ought. Most of it was secure on my own ship. He wouldn’t miss the stolen chest. But I wanted the pirate who embarrassed me by stealing it. He brought dishonor to my name, and then he slipped through my fingers. By the time I swallowed my pride and dug up that hole, it was empty.”

“She moved it,” Maggie said, smirking.

Constantin smiled some private smile. “I never asked, and she never told me. But the next time I sailed to England, she requested I deliver a letter to her sister on Lewis.”

Bash sighed and Maggie squeezed his hand.

“I bore another such letter the day you and I met. We hadn’t yet learned of her passing. I’m so sorry, Bastian. I wish I’d fought harder. The one and only time I ever convinced Ryna to board a ship, we sailed to Lewis so she could bring you home. But we were too late.”

Bash shook his head and swallowed, smiling at the man who was sort of like an uncle to him. He owned no blame in the tragedies of Bash’s life, and how could anyone even call them tragic when they were steps along the journey that led to here and now and Maggie?

“Now I have a question for you,” Constantin said, turning his sharp gaze on Maggie.

“Me?” she squeaked, choking on a bite of tuna, and setting down her fork with unsteady hands. Under the table, Bash squeezed her knee as she’d done for him moments earlier.

Constantin smiled disarmingly. “What on earth compelled a young widow from Orkney to sneak aboard a pirate ship in the first place?”

“Oh.” Her cheeks reddened. “Well. I didn’t know it was a pirate ship, for one thing. Although, I was so eager to leave I might have snuck aboard anyway. I’d received distressing news from my father. Since my mourning period was over, he had found me a second husband and was coming to fetch me back to Inverness for the wedding.”

Bash bristled, even though he already knew the story.

Constantin raised his eyebrows in shock. “I see. And I take it the arrangement was not amenable?”

“It was not.”

“Do you suppose he’ll insist, when he learns of your return?”

Maggie scrunched her face. “He may well try,” she said, and Bash rubbed her neck and shoulder to comfort her. He’d like to see the man try. Maggie’s father or not, he wouldn’t allow it. “Though, I suppose it’s possible this interlude may have weakened the gentleman’s resolve, it will only have strengthened my father’s.”

“Then, if I may offer a solution?” Constantin asked.

“If your solution is impressment, my mother may object.”

The captain burst out laughing.

At sunset, under a cloudless sky, Bash gazed into the freckled face of his beautiful bride. He couldn’t believe his luck. Finally free from the chains of his childhood and the life he’d never asked for, there were riches to start afresh with the most perfect partner at his side.