You may wonder why I have been keeping all of the chapters of The Grey Lady in this particular section (Reluctance/Nonconsensual) when not all of them have had that theme. I hate having to search all over when I am following a particular story, so I decided to keep them all together. It's just a quirk of mine and I hope that you will bear with this particular idiocrasy.
I tried to give you readers 3 pages as you have asked, but the story refused to cooperate. Please forgive me. Hope that you enjoy this chapter and in the meantime, I'm working on Chapter 9, though it may be a bit of a wait. This particular one is giving me problems.
As always, I appreciate the kind words that you have given me about my work.
Please enjoy!
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Chapter 8
The days following the skirmish with the Ramrod settled into what could be called normal. Samantha would be awakened by Toby's knock to find herself alone in the room. She knew that Jake had gotten up earlier. Either she was a heavy sleeper, or Jake was quiet for he never woke her as he prepared for his day.
She would quickly dress, buttoning up as many of the buttons up the back of the dress as possible. She had become quite adept at getting a large portion of them done before Toby returned with the morning meal. The youngster was able to button the ones she could not reach. Then the two of them would sit down to eat.
Samantha began to think of the young cabin boy as more of a younger brother. The boy was sweet, personable and helpful. Despite having spent the last couple of years on a pirate ship, he seemed to still be a good lad. She had watched his interaction with the rest of the crew and noted that they all seemed to treat him well. There was no cuffing about the ears, or bullying. They would tease him, but it all seemed to be good natured fun. And Toby would tease back, but in a totally respectful way. She suspected that Jake had a hand in this.
Afterwards, Toby would clear away the dishes before coming back to help Sam clean the cabin. With the two of them working, the job was quickly accomplished.
Ever since the battle, Jake had decided that it would be a good idea for her to know some kind of self-defense. And if the truth were told, she was very receptive to being able to defend herself. She was finding it liberating to know that to some extent she had more control over her life. Since she had already used a knife, Sam had asked if maybe she could continue with it. Guns made her nervous, and swords, cutlasses and such seemed too overwhelming for her.
Jake was surprised by her choice though he could see the sense in continuing with a weapon that she had already used with relative success. He had talked to the Master Gunner, who oddly enough went by the name of Gunner and was in charge of the weapons on board. Gunner searched through his arsenal and found a beautiful dagger. The hilt was made of Jade and carved in the shape of a horse's head. The blade was in excellent condition, kept so by Gunner whose job it was as Master Gunner to keep not only all the cannons in working order, but taking care of all the other weapons on board.
"Gunner, where did we pick this up?' Jake held the dagger in his hands hefting its weight and balance.
"From that ship off Princely," Gunner grinned. "I thought we should keeps it fer the ship, ya know? Never know when a weapon like this would be needed."
"Well, it's needed now." Gunner headed over to the books that Jake demanded be kept on weapons and their care. "Make note. This is now the property of Samantha."
Gunner looked up at the Captain, then back down to the book and began writing. "Aye, Captain," Gunner said. It wasn't his place to tell the Captain what he could and couldn't do.
Gunner passed the matching scabbard to the Captain and Jake sheathed it before telling the old pirate, "At a later date, I'll send Samantha down to you. I would like for you to teach her how to care for it, sharpen it, clean it and such."
"Oh, aye, Captain. That I'll do. I'll set 'er up good."
Jake took the dagger and tucked it inside his shirt. He planned on giving it to her once she felt comfortable with the blade she was using. If she was going to learn to use a blade, she should learn to use more than one size and shape. And he wanted her to have one that belonged only to her.
Jake decided that if she was going to learn that skill, Willie was the best man for the job. The man was tall and wiry with a sharp, pointy nose and a dark mole on the left cheek. He also was missing part of his right ear, ironically from a knife accident. But the man could handle knives with the best of them.
Jake had talked to the man, asking if he would mind teaching Sam. He knew that Samantha would be safe with Willie - if Sam was a man, that might have been a different story. Willie had heard the stories about what the young woman had done to Captain DuFey. After all, news travels fast on a ship.
Every day, weather permitting, at four bells Sam and Toby would meet Willie on the Quarter Deck where Willie would have a small target set against the wall. There the three of them would work on learning how to throw a knife, how to handle it safely and how to not injure oneself. Willie honed his skills in addition to training Sam. And Toby. The young lad felt that picking up a new skill wouldn't hurt anything. The bandage on Sam's palm actually aided her, protecting her hand until she started to feel confident handling the blade. And Willie felt that the woman actually had a natural aptitude for the weapon.
Around midday, the lesson would end and Toby would escort Sam back to the cabin before heading to the galley to get meals for Sam and himself. They would sit and talk, or at least Toby did most of the talking, telling stories about his life before the Grey Lady, or enlightening Sam about life on board the ship with stories about different crew members. Jake had informed her about Picky Pete's death though he did not elaborate on the details but rather that the pirate had died during the battle. Toby, on Jake's instructions, refrained from mentioning the pirate. He had plenty of stories about other crew members as it was. The young lad was very observant, and somewhat of a natural jokester, and usually had her laughing.
Afterwards, Toby would clear away the dirty dishes while Sam would set about to do any mending that might have been dropped off. One of the first things that she had done was to alter the clothes that Jake had brought back for her so that they now fit as if made for her. The crew had discovered that Sam could sew, and she had been given the sewing kit that had been confiscated from the Ramrod which she used to also stitch up tears and rips in the pirate's clothes. If one of the crew needed something mended, he would drop the item off with Toby and the cabin boy would make sure that the piece got to Sam, and then return it when it was repaired. Missing buttons would occasionally need replacing, which sometimes was a problem as buttons were hard to come by on the ship and were usually saved for the pants.
If there was no mending, then she had Toby sit and learn to read. Jake had a fair number of books for the young man to learn from. And with a piece of charcoal and a slab of wood, Samantha set about teaching him to make his letters, using an old rag to clean the board before starting over. Toby had only a few years of schooling before he had had to stop and get a job to help put food on the table for his mother and himself. But, as Jake had pointed out to the cabin boy, if he had wanted to grow up to be the Captain of a ship, it was necessary that he be literate. Toby had been a bit reluctant but finally agreed to try to learn. She found a book on Jake's' shelves entitled "The Navigator" that the cabin boy had proclaimed he wanted to read. She was sure that the name was what was of interest to the young man. Nevertheless, the kid would spend the hour learning about travel westward in the United States, as well as travel up and down some of the major rivers. Once he started reading, he became engrossed in the book, occasionally finding it hard to stop.
After an hour of reading, Sam and Toby would spend the rest of the afternoon up topside watching the sea. Once they saw a group of sea creatures called dolphins and Toby informed her that they traveled in something called a pod. The nimble animals jumped in and out of the water and were grey in color. Sam found them fascinating and entertaining with their aerial leaps. They followed the Grey Lady, splashing about almost as if in play, making squeaky, high-pitched noises. To her, they looked as if they were grinning.
"Oh, to be that free!" She watched them in envy.
"But yew ar free, Miz Samantha. I'm tha wun not free. Ah now 'as ta go ta skool." She laughed at the pouting lad.
She watched as the men attempted to make repairs to some of the damage done by the Ramrod. One of the first things that had been fixed was the torn door frame so that the door to the Captain's cabin could be closed, giving Sam a modicum of privacy from the rest of the crew. The major repairs would require waiting until they put into port at Wexling, but some of them were a quick fix.
One of her favorite things to do was to watch the sun set. No two sunsets were the same and she loved the vibrant colors that would grace the sky each evening. The sea air was refreshing and yet soothing and she enjoyed just standing there letting her mind roam while she stared out to the sea.
As the sun would set, Toby would then escort her back to the cabin and leave, heading for the galley to bring back meals for Jake and her. Jake would always thank the young lad and then excuse him for the rest of the evening.
But afterwards, the nights were filled with passionate sex. She could not resist Jake, his dark eyes smoldering, his black hair down just below his collar. Against the fashion of the times (or as Samantha remembered it), he did not usually tie it back but rather let the wind whip it around so that when he would arrive in the cabin after a day of working topside, his hair would be windblown with the odd stray curl prominent behind his left ear. It was always a conscious effort on her part not to reach up and smooth that wayward hair, or run her fingers through it. But, instead, she pushed that desire to the back of her mind. It was not wise to fall in love with a pirate. His days may be numbered. She did find herself adopting a more casual, if not playful, attitude with him. It was obvious that at least while on the ship she would be the Captain's "bedwarmer", an ugly but accurate term nevertheless.
Despite everything, an easy going banter seemed to have developed between her and Jake, almost as if they had been thrown together with no possible chance for escape forcing them to make the most of it. She was in fact quite grateful for him having saved her life and yet she would not have found herself thrust in that situation had Jake not felt the need to attack the Ramrod.
That being said, she had realized that that was now in the past and she might as well at least continue on and finish the rest of the voyage trying to be agreeable.
