“She said her first name was Anne there, too, but they called her Annie. Her last name was—” She paused in thought. “Barker, I think. Annie Barker.”
My breath stilled as the familiar name pierced my heart. I knew the name Annie Barker. Everyone in America knew the name.
“It can’t be true,” I told her, shaking my head. “She must have had a different name.”
“That was the name she told me,” Mary said with more confidence. “She was called Annie Barker in Texas in 1913. I haven’t thought about it in years, but it’s not something a person forgets.”
I stood, dread filling me with the knowledge of who my mother might be in 1927.
Annie Barker was a wanted bank robber, bootlegger, and kidnapper.
She couldn’t be my mother.
Marcus didn’t press me for answers when I returned to him, but thanked Mary for the meal, paid for our food, and then gently placed his hand on the small of my back again to lead me out of the stifling restaurant.
I leaned into his strength, thankful for this one person who stood by my side. Mary’s words about Marcus returned, and I studied his face to search for the answer.
As he looked back at me, unguarded, I saw the truth. Marcus Zale cared deeply for me.
My heart pounded with awareness as his hand slipped around my waist and tightened.
“I’m sorry about your mother, lass. I wish things were different for you.”
I nodded, wishing they were, too.
He sighed. “We need to find Hawk and return to theOcean Curse. We’ve done all we can here.”
I didn’t want to return to the pirate ship or face life in 1927 tomorrow. I wanted to stay with Marcus, to feel his arms around me, to forget about everything that was hindering me from what I wanted.
But I had no choice. Instead, I blindly followed him through the market until we saw Hawk. Marcus removed his hand from my waist before Hawk could see, and I missed his touch instantly.
The large man told us he had located a buyer for the goods on theOcean Curse, so after Marcus led us back to the ship, he ordered some of his men to take the goods to the buyer and make the transaction.
I went to Marcus’s cabin, feeling truly sick to my stomach about my mother. I sat on my cot for what felt like hours, hugging my knees to my chest and trying to make sense of what Mary had told me. The hidden harbor we occupied was calm and tranquil, contrary to my tumultuous mind and heart.
As the sun fell behind the horizon and the stars appeared in the sky, my thoughts began to darken, as well.
My mother had been a pirate in this life and possibly a gangster in her other life. In all my imaginings, I hadn’t thought we occupied both lives together—or that my mother could be a villain in both times. Surely, she’d be just as surprised as me to learn the truth. I prayed, even though God felt so far away. I hoped there was more than one Annie Barker in Texas, and that my mother wasn’t the notorious criminal reigning terror across the Midwest.
If shewasthe Annie Barker I feared, then both her lives wouldbe filled with crime—which led me to wonder if she had a choice. Was she predestined for evil? Was that part of the curse that my grandmother had placed on her in 1692?
The door to Marcus’s cabin opened, and he appeared. His countenance was heavy as he entered the room and closed the door behind him.
Relief filled my heart, knowing I wasn’t alone anymore.
Despite my anger at him earlier in the week, I rose from my cot as he opened his arms to me, and I entered his embrace.
He wrapped one arm around my waist as his other came up, and he cradled the back of my head in his hand.
I pressed my cheek to his chest, listening to the steady rhythm of his heart. It beat fast and strong, matching the tempo of my own. This was the first time he’d embraced me, but it felt as if I belonged here, as if my heart and body had finally found a home.
“Do you want to talk about it?” he whispered.
I had no one to share this burden with, and it was too much for me to bear alone. He might never believe me, but I had to tell someone. I couldn’t say anything to Ruth or my brothers, and my parents had already chastised me. I thought about Nanny and how I’d tried to tell her, but she had rejected the truth, as well.
Marcus understood what it was like to lose a mother and to be an outcast—which is how I felt. My entire existence was lived as an outsider, and the one person I thought might understand, my mother, was probably a dangerous criminal. And because he had trusted me with his past, I could trust him with mine. I felt it, deep within. Even if he was a pirate, even if he made choices I didn’t understand, Marcus was honorable and trustworthy.
And more than that, he cared about me.
