Part 45 (2/2)
”How about an ale?”
”That's not what I've been teaching you.” Lock shrugged his shoulder and the bird stretched its wings.
”Comfort approaches.” Blaze joined Lock at the rail, squinting at the glare of sunlight on water.
”We're almost home. I know.”
”Your leg?”
”Feels much better.” Lock raised the stick he'd been using for support and walked several steps. ”Be rid of this thing soon. I can't wait to kick again.”
”And dance.” Blaze grinned.
”I only showed you because you asked. They'd probably never dub me if they saw me dance.”
”Not as long as you keep clothed.” Blaze extended his arm, and the bird hopped from Lock's shoulder to the Knight's wrist. ”Like a breathing flower, this creature.”
”b.l.o.o.d.y h.e.l.l,” snapped the bird.
Blaze shook his head, raising his eyes to heaven. ”Mate of the Key, you're a bad influence on an innocent.”
”So my wife has told me.”
One of the Knights who'd just boarded approached Lock and offered him a slip of parchment. ”This message arrived for you with one of our troops headed south.”
Several other Knights and trainees crowded around the newcomers to retrieve messages from home.
Lock broke the seal and read Sparrow's words, unable to control his smile. He turned to Blaze and the Knights also reading their letters and said, ”I have a daughter!”
His companions congratulated him.
”Didn't know Sparrow was expecting,” one of the Knights remarked.
”Neither did I,” Lock said, flooded with elation. The events of the past year and eight months slipped from his mind, and all he could think about was seeing his family.
”A dubbing and a daughter. Not bad at all, Lock. Not bad at all,” said another Knight.
Two days from home, Lock thought. Now it's going to seem like forever. A daughter. I wonder what she looks like?
Sparrow stood at the dock as Lock's s.h.i.+p approached. She glanced at the chubby baby girl tucked against her shoulder and smiled, her heart pounding with antic.i.p.ation. She could scarcely wait to see Lock and show him his daughter.
As the s.h.i.+p neared, she noticed him immediately. He stood on deck, taller than every other Knight on board, his kinky, waist-length hair now more white than brown, his beard gleaming silvery in the sunlight. A black and white bird clung to his shoulder. Sparrow laughed. Obviously he had as much to tell her as she had to tell him. He waved, and she waved back.
As he stepped on sh.o.r.e, she noticed he carried a walking stick and his gait was a bit awkward as he hurried to her. He placed a steely arm around her waist and kissed her, his tongue tracing the shape of her mouth, exploring every moist corner and crevice that he hadn't felt in too long. Then he stared at his daughter.
”She's beautiful, Sparrow,” he said. ”She looks just like you.”
”You're hurt.” Sparrow glanced at his leg.
”It's nothing.” He kissed her hair. ”In another few days, I'll be rid of this b.l.o.o.d.y stick.”
”h.e.l.lo,” the bird said.
Sparrow stared at it. ”Should that thing be near the baby?”
”He's harmless.”
”That beak looks like it could snap a finger off. Where in the world did you get it?”
”Long story.”
The bird's tiny black eyes fixed on Sparrow. ”b.l.o.o.d.y h.e.l.l.”
Sparrow's eyes widened. ”Lock! Did you teach it to curse like that?”
”Not intentionally.”
”A fine example you're going to be for your daughter,” she teased.
”I'm going to try,” he spoke seriously.
Sparrow stood on tiptoe and kissed him. ”You're going to be a wonderful father. What better example than a Knight? I love you, Lock. I've missed you so much. I have so much to tell you.”
”I have so much to tell you.” He accepted the baby and held the small body close to his broad chest. ”What did you call her?”
”Shea-Ann.”
Lock laughed and slapped a hand to his forehead. ”Say it isn't so, girl!”
”Sorry.” Sparrow grinned. ”She's like a mother to me. By the way, she's here at the fortress visiting. She came to see the baby and your dubbing. She said she'll believe it when she sees it.”
”I made it, girl, so she'll sure as h.e.l.l be seeing it.”
”Blaze said the ceremony is set for the end of this week. There are twenty of you being Knighted.”
”Torn boarded the Ocean Star a day ago. He said after the dubbing, I'm to oversee the building of a new s.h.i.+p. Afterward, I'll be the Captain. He said it's completely mine, so long as I do well by the Order. I'll even get to name her.”
Sparrow gazed at the man who'd once been a feared and treacherous pirate. He'd come such a long way and taken her with him. ”Lock, I'm so proud of you.”
His smile faded to a look of pure love. ”I'm grateful to you. You saved my life in every way, Sparrow.”
”Because I knew it was a life worth saving.”
The bird whistled and said, ”I love Sparrow.”
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