3
Ronan
Ronan couldn’t believe how quickly plans for their Cape vacation had come together.
In addition to booking the house, Jace and Fitz rented a van.
Ten and Cope took the kids shopping for clothes, towels, sunscreen, and other beach gear, while he researched Wellfleet, Massachusetts and purchased a large suitcase for Everly to match the one Fitz had gotten for Aurora.
She’d always managed with her little carry-on rolling bag, but if their Memorial Day trip taught Ronan anything, it was that Everly needed more packing space.
It was the night before they were leaving for the trip. As far as Ronan knew, everything was packed, with the exception of last minute items, like Everly’s unicorn stuffies and Ezra’s Mr. Moo.
“Are you finally done packing?” Ronan asked, leaning against the side of Everly’s doorframe.
Everly turned around with an armload of unicorns. Her empty carry-on bag lay unzipped on the floor in front of her. “Almost. My clothes are all packed.”
“I can tell.” Ronan pointed to Everly’s open closet doors, revealing the rack was bare of everything except her winter clothes. “What’s the deal with the rainbow herd?”
“I can’t decide which unicorns to bring.” Everly looked down and gave them a group hug.
“Why not bring them all? There’s plenty of room in that smaller suitcase.”
“Yeah, but I need to leave some room in there.”
Ronan’s eyes narrowed on his daughter. “Why, so you can Moo-nap Ezra’s cow again?” He would never forget Everly deliberately hiding Ezra’s toy so that she could bargain for more clothes to bring on their weekend trip.
Everly giggled. “No, Daddy. I solemnly swear I will not kidnap Mr. Moo again.”
“I believe you. Why do you need extra room?”
“Well, you know how hard I worked to save my allowance. I’m bringing it with me in case I see anything I want.”
“You mean like new stuffies?”
Everly nodded. “You said we’re going to Provincetown, which is the gay center of the entire universe. I bet there is gonna be a ton of rainbow unicorns and dresses and other cool stuff.”
“How do you know Provincetown is the center of the gay universe?” It was, but Ronan had never said that to Everly and he didn’t think Ten had either.
“This one dingbat third-grader named Gunnar asked if you and Dad were going fudge packing in P-town for the summer. I didn’t know what that meant at first, until…”
Ronan took a seat on Everly’s bed. “Until you read him?”
Everly nodded. “We learned about gay sex in health class, but this boy had real pictures in his head, like a movie. Daddy, are there movies of that kind of thing?”
There was no sense lying to Everly. “Yeah, there are movies like that. Some people like to watch others having sex. I’m guessing this mouth-breather had seen one of those movies.”
“Do you watch those movies, Daddy?” Everly looked at Ronan with wide eyes, as if his answer would make or break her opinion of him.
The red alert siren sounded in Ronan’s head.
He not only watched gay porn, he’d encouraged Ten to make their own.
Those movies had given him different moves to try out on Ten.
Not to mention the different roleplay ideas, but there was no way on earth he was going to share that with his daughter.
“No, honey, I don’t watch those kinds of movies. ”
“What kinds of movies?” Ten asked, walking into the room with Ezra, who was dressed in his shark pajamas.
“Gay sex movies!” Everly said proudly.
“Uh, Ronan, could I have a word with you in the hall?” Ten asked.
“Don’t worry, Dad. I didn’t see any movies like that myself, just in the head of an asshat in the third grade.”
Ten’s eyes widened. Ronan quickly filled his husband in on the salient points of the discussion. “How did you answer the asshat’s question?”
“I told him that since his father was the greatest fudge packer in the entire state of Massachusetts, there was no reason for us to go to P-town.”
Ronan snorted and burst out laughing. “That’s my girl. What happened after that?”
“Gunnar’s friend, Leighton asked if Gunnar’s dad was a butt pirate. Gunnar punched him and they ran off.” Everly shrugged. “I don’t know what a butt pirate is, but I bet it has to do with finding booty.”
Ronan was laughing so hard, he couldn’t breathe.
“Something like that,” Ten agreed. He took a seat on the floor beside Everly’s bed. “There’s something I want to talk to you all about before we leave tomorrow. Ezra said something to me when we first mentioned the idea of going to Cape Cod.”
“What did you say, Ezzie? Everly asked her brother. She set her unicorns beside the suitcase and sat next to her brother.
“Me see sip-wreck and Sam.” Ezzie looked proud of himself.
“Wait, you used your gift?” Everly squealed.
“Yup, me just like you, sissy!” Ezra grinned from ear to ear.
Everly wrapped her arms around her brother and gave him a hug. “I’m so proud of you.”
“Me proud!” Ezra returned, his voice muted against Everly’s shoulder.
“Daddy and I didn’t really know what Ezra was talking about until we did a little research,” Ten said.
“You know who Sam is?” Everly asked.
Ten nodded. “I do. His full name is ‘Black’ Sam Bellamy and he was a pirate who grew up in Wellfleet.”
“Bellamy?” Everly asked, looking confused. “We just met a Bellamy at the old navy prison.”
“That Bellamy was named after his grandmother’s maiden name. Sam’s family originally came here from England, so I suppose it’s possible they might be related to our pirate.”
“That’s really cool,” Everly said. “Tell us more about the pirate.”
“Me pirate!” Ezra said. He scampered off the floor and ran out the door. He came back a few seconds later with his eye patch and plastic sword.
“Sam Bellamy was born in 1689 in England.”
“Wow! 1689!” Everly’s eyes were so wide that Ronan was afraid they’d drop out onto the floor. “He’s almost as old as you are, Daddy!”
Ronan’s right hand fluttered to his heart.
“How very dare you?” Did his daughter really think he looked over three hundred years old?
Ronan thought he was a pretty good looking guy for someone with forty in his rearview.
Maybe his hair was greying a bit at the temples.
He thought it made him look dashing, like he was a silver fox in the making, but his daughter thought he was older than dirt.
Everly laughed and climbed onto the bed with Ronan. “I’m just kidding.” She patted his shoulder. “You’re not older than dirt, Daddy. I promise.”
“Anyway,” Ten continued, “In 1715, Sam met a beautiful girl named Maria Hallet, who worked in a tavern in Eastham. Her parents didn’t like Sam and forbid Maria to date him. The two met in secret and fell deeply in love.”
Everly sighed dreamily. “Did they live happily ever after?”
Ten shook his head. “They did not.”
“Maria’s father didn’t want her to marry Sam because he had no money and no way to support her or any family they would have,” Ronan continued.
“The fastest and easiest way to make money in those days was to go to sea. Before Sam came to the United States, he’d been a sailor with the British Navy.
The ocean provided so many opportunities for young men.
There were freight ships that transported goods between the American colonies, the Caribbean, and England.
Then there were fishing and whaling ships and of course, later on, there were pirates.
Sam decided he’d find work on a ship to make enough money to come back to Cape Cod to marry Maria. ”
“Did Sam join a pirate crew?” Everly asked, her eyes wide.
Ronan shook his head. “No, he joined a ship called the Marianne that was sailing to the south intent on salvaging treasure ships that had wrecked in hurricanes off the coast of Florida. The only problem was that ships had sunk in deeper waters than man was capable of visiting at the time. There was no scuba gear or diver’s helmets back in those days.
The crew was in a bit of a tight spot and had a decision to make. ”
“What happened next? Is that when Sam became a pirate?”
“Yes, Captain Hornigold and his first mate, a guy named Edward Teach, decided to turn to piracy. That’s where Teach earned his nickname, Blackbeard. Anyway, the crew didn’t like the way Hornigold was running the operation, so they took a vote and elected Sam Bellamy as their new captain.”
Everly’s mouth hung open as Ronan told the story. He had no idea his daughter would be so enamored with the young pirate.
“Later on Bellamy raided a ship called the Whydah, which he kept for himself. When he felt he had enough treasure to woo his Maria, he began to sail back to New England, dividing the booty between the two ships. They started running into rough weather near Long Island, New York. Bellamy’s partner decided to ride out the storm there, while Sam continued to Massachusetts. ”
“Because he wanted to marry Maria!” Everly sighed again with a dreamy look in her eyes.
Ronan wished to hell he didn’t have to recite the end of the story.
“Right, he couldn’t wait to see her again.
Bellamy was so in love that he threw caution to the wind and tried to sail home, only the storm was so strong that the winds pushed the ship onto a sandbar about five hundred feet from shore.
Between the wind and the pounding waves, the ship started to break up.
Sailors tried to get off the boat and swim to shore, but only two of them made it. ”
“Was one of them Sam?” Unshed tears shimmered in Everly’s blue eyes.
“No, honey, he wasn’t.”
“What happened to Maria?” Everly asked, wiping away her tears.
“Well, I’m afraid things didn’t go so well for her either. Rumor had it that she watched as the Whydah was wrecked on the sandbar and later sunk into the sea. What Sam had no way of knowing at the time, was that she was pregnant with their child.”
“Yay! A baby!” Everly cheered. “Did she name him after his Daddy?”
It was interesting Everly knew the child had been a boy, but not what happened to him or Maria after the baby was born.
“No, honey, the baby didn’t survive. Medicine wasn’t as advanced back then and they didn’t know how to help babies who were born too soon.
” Ten reached for Everly’s hand. “Just like today, men didn’t understand how women’s bodies worked, so instead of seeing what happened as a terrible tragedy, police arrested Maria for the baby’s death. ”
Everly’s sorrow turned to anger. “Did she get out?”
Ten nodded. “She did, but Maria was never the same. It was said she spent the rest of her life walking alone on the beach near the shipwreck, waiting for Sam to come home to her.”
“Dad, I don’t like that story!” Everly stood up and grabbed her rainbow unicorns, giving them all a hug.
“Me no like!” Ezra agreed with his sister. He held out his plastic sword with the point on Ten’s heart.
Ten rolled his eyes dramatically. “There’s one more piece to the puzzle. People claimed Maria was a witch.”
“What?” Everly gasped. “A witch! That makes the story even worse. So many of my innocent sisters died because people around them were jealous or just plain mean.”
Ronan grinned. He’d helped Everly work on a project about the Salem Witch Trials last school year and he’d been impressed with her anger over what happened in their city and her vow to never let another witch be harmed ever again.
“You’re right, Everly, it’s not a happy story, but Ezra’s gift mentioned Sam Bellamy, which made me think maybe there’s more to this story than we already know.”
Everly turned back to Ten, her earlier anger gone. “What do you mean, more to the story?”
“I’m not sure.” Ten shrugged and got back to his feet. “Let’s keep our gifts open on this trip and see where it gets us, huh?”
“History gets stuff wrong all the time. Maybe you’ll find out the truth about Maria and Sam.” Ronan got off Everly’s bed and hugged his daughter. “Pack all the stuffies. If your suitcase is overflowing from stuff you buy on the trip, there’s room in mine. Okay?”
“Okay, Daddy.” Everly looked up at her father. “I know Uncle Fitz wants to go somewhere on vacation that’s not haunted, but if Maria or Sam needs my help, they’re gonna get it.”
Ronan grinned at his daughter. “Don’t ever change.”
“I won’t. You taught me to fight for people and that’s exactly what I’m gonna do for Maria and Sam.”
Ronan had no doubt Everly would be true to her word.
As he walked into Ezra’s room to kiss his son goodnight, Ronan couldn’t help but wonder if history had gotten the love story of Sam and Maria wrong.
Maybe Everly would discover what really happened between the star-crossed lovers and set history to rights.