Gray Beard tipped his ear closer as if for clarification. “Parents?”
“No, sir.” Sweat beaded on Jasper’s brow. I wished there was something I could do to help this conversation, but I knew better than to speak out of turn when there’s a machete at my back.
“Everyone has parents.” Maybe it was my imagination, but the captain’s voice appeared to soften.
“Biological ones, yes.” Jasper’s voice was slow, yet respectful, but since I was used to his inflections, I could tell they were tinted with strong emotions. “I don’t know them. I was in an orphan home since I was a baby—”
“How old are you?” Captain rushed.
“Ah, I don’t know my exact birthday but I’m in my early twenties.”
“I’m going to be honest with you.” Gray Beard’s tone was inquiring. “When you stole my map, I was prepared to kill you.”His pause was so long, I had time for a double gulp. “When we finally captured you, I was ready to make you walk the plank.”
“Ahh!” I gasped, but quickly buttoned my lip.I knew it!
“My guard saw something on you—a brand.”
Captain finally rose to his feet and sauntered across the wheelhouse. He didn’t stop until he was standing behind Jasper, examining the scar below his ear. As he studied it, he grew more still, and his eyes sparked a tiny glisten. “It’s a half of a figure eight.”
Jasper’s gaze fell to the floor, and he nervously shuffled his feet. Clueless to what Captain was talking about, I looked to Jasper, but he remained unbothered. “I have no idea where it came from.”
“I do.” Captain asserted in a calm voice, his feet not moving, while the glisten in his eyes grew. “It’s from your mother.”
“How would you know my mother?” Jasper’s brows angled as if he wasn’t buying that. “And why would my mother scar me?”
The captain’s gaze wafted over Jasper, giving him another full once over. Tears brimmed his eyes when he continued, “Why don’t I show you.”
fourteen
Jasper
Time stood still.
How could this be?
All my life, nobody had even mentioned my mom to me. I’d begged every foster parent I’d had. Desperate for a normal life, and a stable home, I scoured for any clue to who my real parents were.
And this filthy pirate played with my emotions. How dare he? It’s one thing to capture me, but talking about my mom was cruel.
Narrowing my eyes, I stood motionless waiting for him to explain. Instead of talking, Captain Gray Beard turned his head and pulled his greasy hair back. It was hard to see anything other than the dirt-stained skin, but I was stubborn, fixing my eyes hard.
And there it was.
A scar, the mirror image of mine.
I never believed my scar was anything different than an accidental wound. If there ever was a thing as proof that it was intentional, this would be it.
“Are you telling me I’m a pirate,” I half joked at the coincidence. Raising an eyebrow, I paused as I considered how resourceful and comfortable I was sleeping in a gondola.
“No, you are not a pirate.” Our eyes met on the same horizontal plane. “But, you are my son.”
“Woo.” I took an involuntary step back, while Evie gasped. There’s no way I heard that correctly. “What did you say?”
“It seems like another lifetime ago.” He stuffed his hands in his trouser pockets and turned his gaze to the ground, almost remorsefully. “I held you once for the entire night after your mother gave birth.”
“H-How?” I stuttered, not believing it. Yet, now that the words were out, there was a glint in his eyes that was familiar.
“Let’s take a walk.” He motioned to the guard with the machete in my back to walk out of the wheelhouse, and my other guard automatically moved to the captain’s chair for a wheel watch. I cut a gaze at Evie, not wanting to leave her, but with knives jammed up both our backs, neither one of us had a hankering to protest.
