5
Ronan
“Daddy, are we there yet?” Wolf asked from the back of the van.
“Almost, buddy,” Jude said. “We’re going to the pirate museum before we go to the house.”
“Avast, land lovers!” Wolf called out. “Ye’d be wise to keep yer hand off me booty!”
“Booty!” Aurora and Everly chorused before bursting into giggles.
Ronan had been the one to suggest they tour the pirate museum on the first day of the trip.
Fitzgibbon had just wanted to get to the house and take day trips from there.
The drive from Yarmouth to Wellfleet would take another forty-five minutes with no traffic, and since they had two hours until they could check into the house, stopping for an hour or two was in everyone’s best interest.
“There it is!” Wolf shouted.
“Land ho!” Ronan joined in.
“What’s a land ho?” Wolf asked.
“It’s the opposite of a sea ho,” Jude said on a snort.
“I still don’t get it,” Wolf said. “I know what land is, but what’s a ho?”
Cope slapped a hand over Jude’s mouth. “Not one more word, asshole.”
Jude pulled Cope’s hand away. His eyes pled with his husband. “I’ll die if I can’t get the words out.”
“At this point, word constipation is better than word diarrhea.” Cope covered Jude’s mouth again. “A land ho is a garden tool, kind of like a rake, but solid, with no spines.”
“I don’t think that’s what it means,” Everly whispered, loudly enough for Ronan to hear.
He spun around quickly and shot his daughter a shut-up-or-be-grounded-for-life look. Everly burst out laughing. Ronan had no doubt his daughter knew exactly what a land ho was, he just hoped she was wise enough not to ask what a sea ho was.
“Is Ariel a sea ho?” Everly asked.
It was on the tip of Ronan’s tongue to answer, but he didn’t want to spend the night sleeping on the beach with the crabs. He unbuckled his seatbelt and pulled the door open. “All ashore.”
“Wow! Look at the pirates!” Wolf shouted, about to take off running. On the walkway to the door of the museum, there were several benches with pirates sitting on them.
Jude grabbed him. “This is a busy road with a busy parking lot. Stay with me, okay? I don’t want you or your sister getting hurt. We’ll take pictures when everyone is out of the van.”
Wolf nodded and reached for Lizzie’s hand.
When Ezra was released from his seat and in Ronan’s arms, they headed toward the entrance.
The building was white with a black banner hung on the front, which featured half of the Jolly Roger.
“Why-duh Pirate Museum,” Wolf read. “Real Pirates. Real Treasure. 1717.” He turned to Jude. “What’s a Why-duh?”
“Whydah is the name of Captain Sam Bellamy’s pirate ship. It sort of sounds like the word widow, if Blanche Deveraux from The Golden Girls said it.”
Along the walkway leading to the red doors were the pirates.
One was a tall statue of Blackbeard, standing, arms crossed and looking fierce, while the others sat on the benches as if they were simply taking a short break from yo-ho-hoing.
Ronan took a ton of pictures of Everly and Wolf with the statues, as well as of Jace and Fitz with Aurora, who treated the pirates like they were best friends, sitting right on their laps.
Once inside the museum, Ronan was disappointed to learn that aside from the small alcove which housed the Whydah’s ship bell, no photographs were allowed to be taken.
Not having his phone in his hands would keep him more in the minute as they looked through the artifacts and treasure found at the wreck site.
The first room held everyday items like plates, cutlery, and cups. Ronan was stunned that something so delicate as a China plate could survive not only the shipwreck, but being buried at the bottom of the ocean for over three centuries.
Looking around, Ronan saw the kids climbing all over the mini replica of the ship.
They were laughing and having a great time.
All except his daughter. Everly stood aft and was staring off into space.
He supposed she was speaking to a ghost. Ronan climbed onto the ship and headed for his daughter. “Hey, are you okay?”
Everly shook her head. “Yeah, I’m good. I had a vision.”
Ronan’s eyes narrowed, he knelt down beside his daughter. “What kind of vision?”
“I was on the ship. The Whydah. Not the night it sunk, but before that. The pirates were excited to be sailing back toward New York. They were talking about what they’d buy with their share of the treasure.”
Ronan smiled. Thank goodness she wasn’t on the ship the night disaster struck.
He knew nothing could hurt her in a vision, but he wouldn’t want Everly experiencing the panic and raw fear of the sailors when they realized all was lost. “What were they talking about buying?” Booze first and then a nice house in the country, Ronan supposed.
“Definitely rum, but they didn’t want a house, they wanted women.” Everly grimaced. “No offense, Daddy, but boys are gross sometimes.”
“Can’t argue with you there,” Ronan agreed.
Boys were gross under the best of circumstances, but out to sea for several months with a bunch of other men, barely bathing, and without women to take the edge off, he could well imagine the pirates would be gross.
“What else did you see? How about Captain Bellamy?”
“Yeah, he was standing at the ship’s wheel.” Everly turned toward it. “He was tall like you. The wheel came up to his chest. He held it with one hand, kind of like you do when you’re driving the Mustang. He was thinking about Maria.”
“The girl waiting for him at home?” Ronan asked.
Everly nodded. “He really loved her. Sam didn’t want to be a pirate. He wanted to be a good man who could provide a life for Maria and the family they’d have together. Sam was finished with voyages to the Caribbean. All he wanted to do was go home.”
“I can see that.” Ronan stepped up to the wheel and turned it. He imagined what it must have been like to sail at sea on a wooden ship with only a sextant and the stars to guide him home. “Whenever I’m away from your Dad and you kids, all I think about is coming back home.”
“You do, Daddy, but not like this.” Everly nibbled her bottom lip as if she were trying to find the right words to explain what she felt.
“Like what?”
“Like Sam will literally die from missing Maria. He has trouble breathing when he thinks that she might not have waited for him or that maybe another man wanted to go on dates with her. His emotions are all balled up inside him and he feels like he’s going to explode like one of the cannons.”
“You can feel all of that just by standing on a replica of the back end of the ship?” Ronan would never cease to be amazed by Everly’s gift and what it was capable of doing.
“It’s not just the ship, Daddy, it’s all of Sam’s stuff here in the museum,” Everly paused for several seconds.
“Think about our house. We have our own plates, and forks, and cups. There are pictures of us and toys and food and everything. We’re connected to our stuff.
Those items that belonged to Sam carry him on them.
I don’t know how to explain it better than that. ”
“He’s imprinted on these items,” Ronan suggested.
Everly nodded.
“Did Sam try to speak to you in the vision?” Ronan hoped not.
“No, it was like I was a ghost on the ship. Sam and the other pirates didn’t know I was there.” Everly reached for Ronan’s hand. “Let’s go see the treasure. I know it’s your favorite thing.”
Ronan studied his daughter for a few seconds. He had the feeling she wasn’t telling him everything she saw in this vision. He’d have to talk to Tennyson later to see if she shared anything else with him.
For the moment, he followed behind her and got off the ship. Ronan could hear Jude and Wolf exclaiming from another room. He let the sound of the voices reel Ronan in.
“There you are!” Jude waved him over to a display with a giant treasure chest. “You gotta see this!”
Silver coins spilled out of it and nearly covered the table it sat on. Ronan wanted to run his hand through the coins, but the chest and its booty were behind protective glass, probably bulletproof.
“The chest is cool, but come see this.” Jude waved Ronan over to him. He stood in front of a display with silver coins partially embedded in Lucite. You were able to touch the part of the coin that wasn’t embedded. “They let you touch the treasure!” Jude’s dark eyes were blown wide open.
“Holy shit!” Ronan slid his finger over the coin slot closest to him. He could feel the insignia stamped into the coin and found himself wondering if Black Sam Bellamy himself had touched it.
“The gold is this way.” Jude grabbed Ronan’s elbow and tugged him toward the next display, which glittered with gold ingots.
“This is amazing.” Ronan moved on to a display of solid gold bars and wished he could touch the gold, hold it in his hands and feel the weight of the items in his hand.
What must it have been like to have found these treasures?
His stomach buzzed with anticipation. Only a few of the gold trinkets would set his family for life.
He wouldn’t have to worry about putting money away for Ezra and Everly’s college education.
They could go on cruises every year and eat prime rib and lobster every night.
Everly’s laughter from across the room grabbed Ronan’s attention.
She, Wolf, and Aurora were looking at an exhibit together.
Ten and Cope stood nearby laughing at whatever Wolf had just said.
The treasure in this room was incredible, beautiful, and worth a king’s ransom, but the men who’d gathered it, who thought it assured their futures, died horribly.
What had those men thought of when the ship struck the sandbar?
When the masts cracked and tumbled down?
When they were battling the rough waves to get to shore?
Ronan’s blood ran cold at the thought of never seeing his family again thanks to the items in this room. Thanks to a man who was so blinded by love that he sailed into a nor’easter thinking the love he carried for Maria was stronger than Mother Nature at her worst.
In Ronan’s case, all that glittered definitely was not gold. His husband. Their kids. Friends. Those were the things that glittered in Ronan’s life. He wouldn’t trade his family for anything and certainly not for any of the items in the treasure room.
Captain Sam Bellamy, with his gold-laden ship, may have thought he had the world on a string, but all the treasure in the world couldn’t save his life or reunite him with Maria.
Ronan met Ten’s eyes from across the room and knew in that moment he was the richest man in the museum. He might only have fifty bucks in his pocket, but he had Tennyson, Everly, and Ezra. Their love was priceless.