Chapter Two: A New Home

I must have cried myself to sleep because the next thing I knew, I was in a soft bed. I lifted my head off of the pillows and peered around the room. It was large and nicely furnished, with large bay windows to my right. The curtains were a pearly white, and they matched the elegance of the room. There were colorful oriental rugs on the polished wooden floor, and a candle stood beside me resting on a nightstand. The curtains were draped over my windows, so I had no clue what time of day it was, but the weak streams of light seeping through the cracks told me that it wasn't night.

I got out of bed and realized I was still dressed in my pirate clothes. My boots were removed, and I found them standing by the door. I first went to my windows and parted the curtains. I found that it was dawn, and I had a perfect view of the rising sun against the horizon.

I sat on the window seat and looked out. I saw that my room was up high. I wouldn't be able to escape. I sat slumped in the seat and drew the pearly white curtains around me, trapping me inside the window seat; but it also separated me from whoever suddenly came into my room.

"Miss Astrid? You awake?" a voice said. I took it that it was a maid, for it did not sound like Elizabeth. I ignored the call and stayed in my place. "Miss Astrid, come on now. Missus Turner doesn't like to wait. She wants to see you."

"She can see me some other time," I retorted, giving my covert spot away. At once the curtains were grabbed and pulled, and I was hauled out of my spot.

"Come on now, get dressed."

"I am dressed."

"That is no way for a young lady to dress. Come on now, let me show you."

My maid brought me to the dressing area and pulled off my soiled pirate clothes and slipped me into some undergarments. Once I had my stockings on, she slipped on me a very uncomfortable and tight blue dress, embroidered with tiny flowers and ruffles around the hem, neckline and numerous other places.

She then brought me to a dresser with a mirror and sat me down in a chair. My hair was brushed rather aggressively, for my hair was a curly mess. She sighed in relief though, at my naturally curly hair, and just made it up into a tight bun with loose curls hanging out by my ears.

"So you will be staying with the Turner family, Miss Sparrow?"

"I dunno," I replied.

"We'll have to teach you proper speech too. Now, stay still. I'm not done fixing your hair." I was getting annoyed and restless at her rambling about. Her chatter was useless. At last she pulled her fingers out of my auburn hair and I was allowed to leave the room, of course, not without my shoes.

Never before had I felt like a complete fool as I walked down the stairs to the kitchen where Elizabeth and the rest of the Turner family would be waiting for me. The dress was uncomfortable, my hair was uncomfortable, and the shoes were uncomfortable. I wondered what my father would think if he saw me now.

Maybe he's just off to Tortuga again, I thought. He'll come back. He wouldn't want me to live like this.

At last, I reached the kitchen and Elizabeth smiled as I walked in.

"Good morning, Astrid. You look beautiful."

"Thank you," I mumbled. I guessed they thought being in a hardly movable dress was a good thing.

"You can join us to eat breakfast if you'd like. Are you hungry?" It was only when she mentioned the words did I realize that I was starving.

"Yes. I'll eat."

"All right. Here, you may take a seat beside Roland."

"Yes, but..."

"Yes, Astrid?

"My father is coming back, right? I mean, I'm only staying here for a while, right?"

"O-Of course you are. Jack will come back soon. Meanwhile, we'll make sure you enjoy your stay here with us. In fact, as soon as breakfast is over, you can tell us whatever you want to do."

"Really?"

"Yes."

"All rightey. Thank ye. Me dad must be really good friends with ye for ye to do this."

"Oh, we'd do anything for Jack, Astrid. Anything."

I took a seat next to Roland and my food was placed before me. I immediately grabbed my fork and began eating, eating rather…greedily. I knew that I had shocked them in some way, for no one else was eating. I looked up and swallowed the food in my mouth. "Am I doin' somthin' wrong?" I said quietly.

"No, no, Astrid," the man named Will said. "We all know your reason." I smiled in gratitude and continued to eat, and so did the rest of the Turner family.

When breakfast was over, I told them what I would like to do, and as if they didn't have any other plans, they happily agreed to do them.
"You mean, you ain't burdened by me?"

"Of course not, Astrid," Elizabeth said. "Why, you're practically part of the Turner family now."

"It's just 'cause my father always said I was a pest when I told him that I wanted to do somethin' an' he didn't wanna do it."

"It's all right. You are far from being a bother to us, Astrid. Now, you said you wanted to go walk around town, right?"

"Yes! I can't believe you remembered! Jack always forgot about things."

"Well, let's get going. We still have to do everything else."

I was convinced in my mind that my father would come back, but I liked how I was actually being listened to this time. Elizabeth and Will were nice. They actually listened to me, but I wondered why my father wasn't like that in the first place.

I walked down the street beside Elizabeth and she pointed out places to me. Sometimes she would make a game out of it, and she had to point to a place and I had to guess what it was. If I was right, then Elizabeth promised to take me down to the beach. I guessed a couple places right, and she fulfilled her promise to me, and we went down to the shore.

I crouched down beside the waves that broke on the shore and placed my fingers in them. I longed to be back on a ship and see the blue ocean around me, but I was actually having fun that day, and I didn't want the happiness to end. In a way, I almost wanted to stay with Elizabeth and Will forever, and my feelings from the night before hardly existed.

By the time we walked back to town, it was mid-afternoon and I was tired and hungry; but it seemed as if Elizabeth and Will had noticed, and before long, Roland was in Elizabeth's arms, and I, in Will's. He held me securely yet gently, and I knew he wouldn't set me down on the ground after a few seconds like Daddy often did.

"Anything else you want to do, Astrid?" Will asked.

"No. I'm tired. I want to go... home," I replied, feeling my eyelids droop.

"All right. Then that's where we're going."

The next time I opened my eyes, I was in the house again. It was early evening and I smelled the aroma of supper. I got up and walked into the next room I passed by, and I saw Mister Turner in there. He was looking at some swords on the wall, and I wondered what he found so interesting in them. "Is supper soon?" I asked, revealing my hunger and position.

"Yes. You can come in if you'd like."

I lingered in my spot in the room entrance before walking in and standing beside him.

"Do you like swords?" He smiled and looked down at me.

"I do. I also make them."

"How can you make one?"

"Do you want me to make one for you?"

"No, well, I dunno. I'd like to have a sword to play with."

"Well, swords are dangerous weapons, Astrid."

"I know, but I don't like using an invisible sword when I'm playing."

"I cannot make you an authentic sword, but perhaps I can make you a wooden one to play with. Would you like that?"

"Oh yes! Really? Ya mean it?"

"Yes. In fact, Roland has been begging for one too. I'll make one for each of you."

"Oh, thank you!"

Without thinking, I hugged him, and he didn't walk away before I could. He hugged me back and picked me up, but there was something in his hug that was different from my father's. There was care.

By the next week, I felt quite at home with the Turners. What happened to me in the past week seemed so unimportant, and I no longer cared if my father came back or not. I wondered why though.

I had grown to love the place so quickly, and I was afraid of losing my feelings about my father. I knew I loved him still, but now I loved Elizabeth and Will too. Even Roland.

Roland and I shared many of the same interests, and he was kind of like a brother to me, if you look at it that way. We played pirates together, with the play swords Will made for us, and the games we played were some of the best ones I ever had.

I grew acquainted with the servants and helped them out often with Roland. It didn't take me long to fall in love with the whole place or for me to realize that just because Jack was gone, didn't mean that my happiness had to go with him.