Incredibly, the man in the red shirt floated back to the surface. Ten could see his arms floating in front of him, his head nearly submerged into the water. It was obvious he was dead. Several waves pushed his body toward the beach, before sucking him back toward the ship.
The woman continued to scream for him as the vision slowly dimmed and faded away.
“Dad?” Everly buried her face in Ten’s shirt. Her small body was wracked with uncontrollable sobs.
“Ten, what’s going on?” Ronan stepped out onto the deck, instantly coming to Everly’s side. “Is she okay? Was she hurt?” He scooped his daughter into his arms and took a seat in one of the sun lounges nearby.
“No, she’s fine. I am too.” Ten wasn’t telling the exact truth. He might be okay physically, but he would never forget standing with his daughter by his side witnessing Sam Bellamy’s last moments. Her face pulled back into a terrified grimace.
“What the hell happened? I saw Everly get up and you followed behind. The next thing I knew, you were both screaming.”
“Screaming?” Ten asked. He could have sworn he hadn’t uttered a sound as he watched the scene play out in front of his eyes.
“You kept yelling for Sam. Urging him to swim. Begging him not to leave you.” Ronan reached a hand out to Ten. “Was it another vision?”
Everly nodded. She sat up and dashed her tears with the backs of her hands. “I saw the shipwreck. The boat hit the sandbar and crashed. Men fell into the water. They were all screaming. The masts broke, one by one. A man in a red shirt tried to swim to shore, but he didn’t make it.”
“Who was the man?” Ronan asked, sounding as if he already knew the answer.
“Sam Bellamy,” Everly said. “He was wearing red, just like in the pictures at the pirate museum.”
Ten thought back to the image of the pirate which had been plastered all over the museum. It was of a tall man, with ebony hair partially covered by a tricorn hat. He wore a white shirt and a long red coat that reached down to mid-thigh. The man in vision had been wearing a red shirt, not a jacket, but Ten had known without a shadow of a doubt it was Sam Bellamy.
“He tried to swim, Daddy, but his left arm was broken and the sea was so rough. I watched him drown.” Fresh tears streaked down her cheeks. “That wasn’t the worst part. I could hear Maria yelling for him. Pleading with him to swim. She saw the whole thing, Daddy. She watched Sam die.” Everly wrapped her arms around Ronan’s chest and began sobbing again.
“Did you see it too?” Ronan asked, his own eyes wet with unshed tears.
Ten nodded. If he lived to be a hundred he’d never forget the sight of the pirate’s body being pushed and pulled by the waves, as if Poseidon couldn’t decide if he wanted to keep his prize or to spit it out onto the shore. “Maria tried to run into the water tosave him. Her dress was so heavy that it pulled her down. I don’t know how she made it back to shore.”
“It was Sam. He saved her. I saw his spirit helping her.” Everly sniffled.
Ten hadn’t seen that part of the vision. Piggybacking on what Everly saw wasn’t as effective as him having a vision himself. He may not have seen as much detail as his daughter.
“I hate to ask, honey,” Ten began, “but did you see what happened to his spirit?”
Everly nodded. She wiped her face with her nightgown and took a deep breath. “Sam went back to the ship. I saw him standing at the wheel. Just like in my first vision. Why would he do that?”
Several thoughts ran through Ten’s mind. He wasn’t sure if he should tell Everly any of them.
“The captain goes down with the ship,” Ronan said, reverently.
“What does that mean, Daddy?”
“It’s an old maritime tradition, that the captain only left a sinking ship when all of his sailors had been saved. Sam knew his men weren’t going to survive, so he did what he’d been trained to in the British Navy. He stayed with his ship.” Ronan hugged Everly close to him. “I’m so sorry you had to see Sam die.”
“I’m not.” Everly’s voice was muffled against Ronan’s shirt. “He wanted me to see what happened. I think he wanted me to know where he is.”
“The vision was like an SOS,” Ten said. “That’s why Maria’s spirit has never been able to find him, because Sam’s with theWhydah.”
“If memory serves, the wreck sunk in thirty feet of water and had been buried in forty to fifty feet of sand. Not to mention the fact that the wreck site is off limits because the man who found her has salvage rights.” Ronan shook his head. “Reuniting the two lost lovers is nearly impossible.”
“No, it’s not,” Everly said. “I think there’s a way to do it, but we might end up in jail.”
Ronan snorted. “That’s just what this vacation needs to spice it up, a trip to jail.” He stood, with Everly cradled in his arms. “Let’s get back to the movie and we can talk more about this tomorrow.”
“Okay, Daddy.” Everly smiled weakly up at her father. “Can we make some popcorn?”
“We sure can, you little pirate.” Ronan set her back on her feet and headed back into the house.
