Salvage

Brendan reclined in his bed, cell phone to his ear, trying to repress the butterflies in his stomach as he listened to the ringing of the number he’d dialed. Was his bedroom door closed? All the way? He’d rather not have any interruptions, or any audience. No, he wasn’t nervous, he’d faced The Bering Sea and all her fury on a regular basis, he’d crewed with murderers and thieves, Hector Barbossa was his father; no, calling a girl certainly didn’t make him the least bit nervous…but why wasn’t she answering?

She’d said she’d be there, waiting to hear from him on Christmas Eve, if she didn’t call him first…and she hadn’t called. Okay, yes, it was Christmas Eve, a time for being with family, but she’d said she’d be there. Was something wrong? Had he forgotten the difference in their time zones? For a moment Brendan contemplated such a thing, for he did so much moving around in his life, he often forgot what time it was where, but no, Nassau and New York, they were both on Eastern Standard Time…it was when he called her from Dutch Harbor, Alaska he had to remember that she was five hours ahead of him. The phone continued to ring…maybe she was just busy with her family? Ran out to the store to get some kind of vegetarian turkey to put in the oven for tomorrow’s dinner? She had mentioned something about Sesame Tofu; he shuddered, that sounded like a nightmare on a plate, he couldn’t bear to think what that taste sensation might be like…and then he felt himself crack a smile; a crab boat captain, dating a vegetarian! And where was his vegetarian? He’d let the phone ring now nearly ten times, and that had crossed the desperate line by a good five rings, he really should hang up, just try again later, if she didn’t call him, but, his stomach began to do flip flops the moment he took the phone from his ear. Eleven rings, twelve, thirteen…great, just what did a guy say to a girl who’d made her cell ring thirteen, no, fourteen, times?

Okay, one more, fifteen, there, no answer, waiting around any longer for her to pick up was silly…and annoying if she were standing there, holding her phone in her hand saying, “Don’t you know a brush off when you get one?” No! She wouldn’t be saying that, or thinking it! Would she? She had invited him to spend Christmas in New York with her, he’d wanted to, but Hector…well, eventually Brendan knew it would have caught up with him, and paying the piper would have been ugly. Great! Up to seventeen rings now! How pathetic. Somewhere, his father was laughing at him, but wasn’t sure why. He was sitting up now in his bed, foot shaking in nervous commotion. Alright, enough of this, bad enough he’d be held prisoner aboard The Pride with Hector for Christmas, he didn’t need this too. If she wanted to talk to him, she knew his number. Brendan lowered the phone from his ear, the very same phone she’d answered for him, and spoke to his sister on, held it to her face in the exact fashion as he did; in a way, they could have been nuzzling together in that touch of cheeks, via his cell phone. He had it nearly closed when all of sudden there was a quick, desperate, “hello?” on the other end. He slammed the phone to his ear again so hard and fast, his beard scraped the microphone making a noise like static.

“Lonna?” He called anxiously over the noise, and then smiled broadly, falling to his back again in his bed with a smile when she answered in the affirmative. “No, no, I’m sorry, for letting it ring for so long! Yeah, I kinda didn’t realize it rang so—your phone was in the refrigerator? Do you normally keep it in there? Yeah, it would be weird, why do you think I asked? Well it’s a good thing I called you, otherwise you might have baked it into a big wad of the cookie dough you made! Yeah, I’m a hero! You know you love it!” Brendan laughed smugly and tucked his arm behind his head. “I’m fine, I miss you, wanted to call and be the first to tell you Merry Christmas, even if that’s only because we’ve still got six hours until it is. Thank you, yeah I wish I was there too, it sucks here, eighty-three degrees, no snow; I’m used to Alaska!” Again he smiled, felt his heart flutter warmly. “Yeah, I could get used to New York, too!” All his former trepidations and fears were forgotten now; he just smiled and listened, but checked again to make sure he’d closed the door. “You get the flowers? I know you believe in the color code, that’s why I sent you a mix of red and pinks, to show you how non-committal I am!” He smirked. “What’s the purple one mean? Means they ran out of pink and red, I guess. What? No, it doesn’t mean that! If it meant that, it would have been a black lace rose, cuz that’s the one you look best in…” for a moment he closed his eyes. “…with the stockings, that have that little seam up the back! Yeah, that one! Now you’re talking! Wait, you’re at your parent’s house, aren’t you? No, that’s okay, I’ll just have to call you again later for the rest of this conversation. No, I’m not hanging up. Yeah, I brought it, I put it under the tree with the rest of the gifts, you told me to not to open it until Christmas. Oh? Like now I should go get it? Can I open it? Yeah, I can bring it back here, I’m totally alone!” Brendan’s smile turned half into a leer, what was in that box Lonna had wrapped up and given him, making him promise not to open it until Christmas, but requested he was alone when he did so? He leapt to his feet, yanking open his bedroom door. “Alright! I’m on it, babe!” He pushed the door open quickly and raced out into the hall, Quinsy’s door halfway open across the corridor from his, at first the room looked dark, but a candle flickered.

“For chrissakes, Quinsy,” Brendan sighed into the phone. “My sister left a candle burning in her room, she’s going to burn down the damned ship for Christmas! What is she think—Oh holy sea goddess!” He suddenly exclaimed into the phone, stopping dead in the hallway, inadvertently now staring at his topless sister, her body pressed tightly to a shirtless Jack in the candlelight, Jack’s bare, tattooed chest obscuring that which Brendan didn’t want to see of his sister’s bare chest from his view, and while Jack still wore jeans, and Quinsy lay beneath a blanket, they were still rather auspiciously mimicking a position of deep connection. “What are you doing with the door open?” Brendan gasped, tilting the phone away from his mouth. Why did this always happen to him?

Jack smiled and chuckled softly, lowering his head to press another kiss to Quinsy’s neck. “Sorry, mate.”

Quinsy sighed and rolled her eyes at her brother. “Having the door open keeps us from going too far, Brendan!”

“Going too far?” Brendan repeated astounded. “If dad were to walk past, Jack won’t be going anywhere ever again!”

Jack raised his head and looked down at Quinsy. “He’s right, you know. Dinner last night just put things right, but Hector’ll have my reef tackle hanging from a yard arm if he saw this, luv!”

Quinsy sighed, but nodded. “Yeah, and that’s the last thing I want!” She smiled up at him. “Okay, we’ll close the door, but if you’re still bent on keeping this respectable, you better get off of me!”

Jack sat up, reluctantly. “And you could put your clothes back on!”

Brendan cringed noticeably, wishing he could flee the scene, but his feet wouldn’t move fast enough. He sighed into the phone again. “You’ll never believe what I just walked in on! And it wasn’t even my fault! It’s like my family lies in wait for me to catch them having sex!”

“We weren’t having sex!” Quinsy sighed loudly, wrapping the blanket around her as she sat up and Jack moved towards the door. “Wait a minute,” she said as she gathered her clothes from the floor. “Who are you talking to, Brendan?” But she smiled like she already knew.

The butterflies in Brendan’s stomach awoke again. “Just close your door and go back to whatever it was you were doing!”

“Not doing, mate!” Smiled Jack, taking a hold of the door and slowly swinging it closed. “And really, sorry to invade your line of sight with such a moment in time upon which you invaded yourself.”

The door was closing quicker now, but just before it thumped shut, Quinsy peered out the crack, smirked and yelled. “Hi Lonna!”

To his chagrin, there came a laughing response of “Hi Quinn…and Jack!” from over the phone. Brendan shivered, trying to shake the image out of his mind and remember what it was he’d even left his room for. “That was wondrously…awful.” He said, and suddenly the gift he was supposed to be retrieving and opening alone returned to his mind. Only after what he’d just encountered… “Babe, I might have to take a rain check on opening that box until I call you back around midnight; Quinn and Jack just ruined it for me. No, I’ll be fine later, just as soon as I find something to burn the sight in my sister’s room from my eyes. No, it’s going to take something stronger than Windex, a hot poker maybe! Yeah, I’m fine, I am…I just don’t know why that always happens to me…and I still have to brave my parent’s room tonight to ask mom something about Dad. Oh yeah, I call Elizabeth ‘mom,’ we all do. Anyway…I wonder what they’ll be doing when I knock on their door!” Brendan rolled his eyes and groaned. “Well, dad and I are getting along, well, like dad and I.” He shrugged. “That’s actually part of the reason I called you now, I’m about to go have a talk with him, and I just really needed to hear your voice before I did it.” Again he smiled warmly. “Yeah, of course you make me feel like I could do anything! You telling me I can’t?” He smirked again. “Didn’t think so. Well, I guess I should let you get back to your cookies and your family, and leaving your phone in places you’d never think to look for it until it’s ringing fifty times and you can hear it but not see it.” He laughed. “Yeah, I’ll call you around midnight, alone with that box! Thanks, it was good to hear yours too,” Brendan looked up towards his parent’s room. “Particularly now! I will, yeah. I miss you too! More than that! New Year’s Eve? Yeah, I’ll be there for New Year’s Eve, start planning the date! Okay, talk to you in a few hours, babe. Bye.”

This time Brendan did snap his phone closed, feeling better, getting his words together in his head, and took a step towards his parent’s room. His mother was right, he did have what it took to do this, and he did want to change how things were between he and his father, he wasn’t even certain how they’d become the way they were, but they certainly were. But, hopefully, he’d hit on how to begin setting things right. He drew a deep breath, felt confident, and took another step towards the door, but that confidence soon faded when he noticed his father’s dog laying in the hallway against the closed the door. Not an encouraging sign, Jack was only ever put out in the hallway when his parents were…well, Brendan still begrudgingly recalled overhearing that conversation last time he was home for Christmas:

“Hector, I can’t do this with him in here, I just keep feeling his eyes on us.”

“He’s a dog, Lizabeth.”

“And he’s watching!”

“Fine, then. Don’t go anywhere, don’t even move, want yeh just like that when I get back!” Brendan heard the bed creak as his father got to his feet. “Jack! Sorry lad, but the lady’s a bit shy, outside!” The door opened and the bull terrier mix was ushered out into the hall, to lie beside the door, just as he was now.

Brendan stopped in his tracks and sighed. What was it with his family? His sister and Jack, his parents, his brother and some random piece of tail half the time…it was a wonder that The Pride wasn’t capsized in the harbor by a wave of spunk from too much fornication! Well, at least Jack, the dog, being in the hallway had given him some warning this time. Brendan turned back towards the living room, he could at least go and get that gift from Lonna; it was the closest to any he was going to be getting.


* * * * * * * *

There were rolls of wrapping paper everywhere and boxes and tissue paper, and gifts waiting to be presented for Christmas, but Elizabeth lay back across their bed, losing touch with the fact that she had so much work ahead of her. Hector’s hand climbed her body, reaching up and undoing the buttons of the shirt she wore to take a zealous handful of her breast. He knelt between her legs on the floor, his other hand pushing down on her inner thigh, spreading her legs wider as his tongue dove deeper inside her. He moaned against her dripping, hot creases, the sound vibrating against her clitoris, making her body shake from the sensation on her delicate skin, but also from knowing how hungry he was for the flesh between her thighs. She had so much to do, but she couldn’t resist this, there was no resisting this! Not since the first time Hector had eased her legs apart and confused, surprised and captivated her by opening her as much as she ever had been before, and began to kiss and lick and suck all that she was made with as though he’d never known a rarer, more succulent delicacy.

Elizabeth arched her back off the bed, shoving her breast into his hand as he pinched her nipple and she moaned deeply, feeling herself growing wetter and wetter and more and more open to her husband’s invasion. She could feel his tongue more, the tip of it sweeping through every fold, lapping at her more rapaciously as her body oozed its honeys. How glad she was that he’d only trimmed, but hadn’t shaved, his beard in decades, this was always so much more intense when his beard scraped the skin of her inner thighs, bend of her leg and soft pink flesh, a perfectly coarse contrast to the soft, warmth of his tongue and lips, such a rugged, wild and yet refined pleasure. “Oh Hector,” she quietly and breathlessly moaned, laying back with a lazy smile on her face as he worked her body to his very magnanimous satisfaction. “There are times I feel guilty keeping you only to myself.”

He smiled, but didn’t dare break the spell by removing his mouth from her for too long, combed his fingers through the dark curls on her mound and dove back into her again, feeling his cock stiffen to fullness now and throb with envy of his lips and tongue. He ignored it, for now, angled his head more over his wife’s hips and extended his tongue against her swollen clitoris as she breathed rapidly and heavily, drawing a few “X’s” over the slick little knob, making Elizabeth tremble and shake beneath him. She was close, he could more than feel it, he could taste it; she always tasted sweetest, like apple brandy, the closer he drove her to orgasm.

He nudged her clitoris a few more times with his tongue, Elizabeth groaning sharply each time, then teasingly he left her tumultuous little organ to plow his lips and tongue through the pink furrows below it, his wife nearly wriggling free of his grasp in her eagerness to direct him back to the fevered spot he’d suddenly deprived of his attentions. Enough then, she was a sugary tartness in his mouth now; her storm was brewing. He nudged her clitoris with his tongue once more, her body jolted with a startled cry, and Hector curled his tongue around her erect pink bud, trapping it within the channel of soft, moist warmth, and began to fuck her hyper protrusion in the envelopment he held it within. His name erupted from Elizabeth’s lips, spilled in such desperate, pleading whispers for more as her body rocked beneath him, thrusting against his tongue as he moved it up and down the tiny shaft of her clitoris, a heavy groan suddenly escaping her, and her hands tangled in the comforter, legs raised, and body frozen, but shaking fiercely. Quickly he relaxed his tongue, instead closing his lips over her firm, pulsating knot and sucking it; Elizabeth dissolving into the throes of climax beneath him, her body convulsing as she gasped and slowly relaxed again, the feeling of her contractions increasing the way his cock throbbed against his abdomen. She was so wet still, so very very wet; Hector could never resist such a sea.

Elizabeth just barely had caught her breath when she felt her husband moving above her, his hand between them, as he leaned over her. Oh but she was still so very sensitive, it was too soon have his hardness pushing into her still clamoring body, but she was so ready. She wouldn’t cum again, but this would still feel so very good! The head of his cock nudged the ring of her slick opening and sent sparks of oversensitive joy reeling within her, her hips bucked, but she grabbed hold of Hector’s strong biceps and squeezed them, grit her teeth as the rest of his cock sank into her before her still tightly wound body clamped down upon him. She tried to speak, but could only moan and feel her sheath throbbing in time with his heaving cock. It had been so many many years since she’d looked upon his erect organ and stroked it with her hand, all the while fearing he was too large for her petite frame, but no matter how accustomed she now was to him, he always felt so very impressive within her. There was no need for him to waste benevolence upon her now, she only desired one thing. “I want to feel you cum,” she was able to whisper as he began to move, slowly at first, groaning and growling as her body fought to hug him snuggly within her sheath. “Fuck me until I’m wet with your pleasure.”

Twenty minutes later, Elizabeth pulled the shirt she’d had on before back on and buttoned it up, her hair still a bit wet from the shower where Hector remained. He’d always been difficult to resist as a lover, and his powers of seduction were legendary, and she knew how fortunate she was to be married to such a man, but she was also glad he was now satisfied, at least for a bit, anyway. She gathered her wrapping paper and boxes and tape and gifts; she had so much to get done still, and while overly pleasant, that little romp with her husband was time she should have spent wrapping presents. But, wrapping presents, or sex with Hector…well, how could she truly prefer wrapping gifts?

Alright, time to stop smiling and dreaming about the glories of their most recent voyage and get to work. She had twenty some gifts to wrap for the children and Jack still, and Christmas Eve dinner to put together, it consisted of the whole barbequed ham she’d ordered from a favorite restaurant, it was warming through in the oven, and few favorite side dishes of her families also from the same restaurant. Just heating up, no actual cooking. Still, she looked forward to having it all on the table, and sitting around it with her family. At least, she hoped that would be something to look forward to, there was still, as there always was, the question of Hector and Brendan. No, she wouldn’t think about that either, she had work to do. She unfolded a box, lined it with some red tissue paper and folded a silk shirt for Caspian into it.

Hector sauntered out of the bathroom, wearing his favorite pair of old sweats, his hair towel dried but still wet, and gave her a leering smile as he slid into bed behind her, curling around her and pulling her back to lean against him. “That for me?” He growled softly, wrapping his arm around her waist.

“No,” she sighed, but couldn’t help smile. “It’s for Cass; I wrapped all your presents while you and he and Jack were towing the barge in from the wrecksite, because you’re such a snoop.”

“Pity that,” Hector half pouted, and pawed the shirt she wore down over her shoulder and rubbed his wet beard on her skin before kissing it.

Elizabeth sighed, but her body defied her and gave a pleasant shudder. How was she ever to get anything done? “Hector, I’ve got lots of work to do, and it’s Christmas Eve. You’ve just had me on my back, you can’t be ready again so quickly, so please leave me to my gift wrapping without trying to unwrap me, please?”

“’Tis my shirt,” he smirked and drew it further down her shoulder. “And what if I am ready again?”

Elizabeth shook his hand from her shoulder and sat up again; no she wouldn’t fall victim to that purred brogue again, or those light, yet demanding, touches. “I’d tell you to put on another shirt from your closet and go see to your own wrapping matters so you’re not up until two in the morning trying to get it done and wake up an ill rested, grumpy mess on Christmas morning like you always do.”

True, he did have some gifts for her to get wrapped, but he wasn’t giving up that easily. “Don’t have any paper,” he half whispered, and trailed his finger lightly along the line of her shoulder.

“I’ve plenty, take what you need.” Elizabeth unfolded the lid of the box and placed it over Caspian’s shirt.

“Need tape,” Hector furthered, his lips now following along the line his finger had traced.

“Another roll in the side drawer by the pantry in the galley.” He was lightly and slowly kissing her collarbone now, moving towards her neck. Ah, but that did feel good.

“No scissors either,” his lips hovered by her ear as he nuzzled her hair, holding her by the shoulders now.

Her instinct was to let her head fall to the side and accept the ministrations of his lips and tongue on her skin, but no, she must get this wrapping done, and she needed the scissors! “Use your teeth!”

Hector smirked a bit, but lowered his head and gently began to nibble her neck, making even Elizabeth laugh and for a moment relax into him, and he held her tighter, but all too quickly she tried to shrug him off and pull away, asking him to stop. Stop? He pulled her into him again, arms around her and turned her lips to his, kissing her lightly, teasingly. “Elizabeth,” he whispered hoarsely. “I do want to fuck yeh again, now.”

Damned if his body wasn’t already half at the ready again…must have been that Bowflex! Elizabeth sighed; how long could it possibly delay her? Another thirty minutes, perhaps? Oh, she’d be the one up until two in the morning this year! She closed her eyes, let herself go limp in his embrace as Hector’s lips covered hers again, knowing she’d stopped fighting it now. And then Jack whined on the other side of the door, his tail wagging and thumping against it. “Hector, I think your dog wants you.” She said, finding the strength to withstand again and before she could pull away, there came a knock on the door and then a voice.

“Mom?” Brendan called sheepishly. The door hadn’t opened, and Jack hadn’t been let back in, but at least he’d heard them talking to one another…they couldn’t still be…if they were talking to one another, could they?

Inside the room Hector’s face quickly twisted into a sneer and he recoiled from around Elizabeth, “It’s always bloody Brendan!” He hissed to her, but Elizabeth only laughed as he stood up and pulled his Clapton T-shirt over his head; she’d needed something to distract Hector.

“Come in, Bren.” She smiled, throwing a blanket over a stack of his gifts.

The door opened, Jack rushed into the room and over to Hector, jumping up on his legs as if master and hound had been parted for years. Brendan stepped into the doorway of the room, feeling nervous, and getting an inkling now that perhaps something had been going on after all. “If now’s not a good time—“

“No, it’s fine,” Elizabeth smiled, but didn’t dare to see the expression on her husband’s face. “What is it, darling?”

Brendan took a deep deep breath and looked to his father, who’d taken a seat in a chair, enticing Jack with one of the old socks the dog adopted as a toy and playing tug of war with him. He could do this, he was a leader of men, and his father certainly wasn’t going to be who gave in. He thought of Lonna. Yeah, he could do this! “Actually, I really want dad.”

Hector’s head jerked up. “What?” He grunted sharply.

“Oh!” Elizabeth was all aflutter, a big smile on her face. Yes! This was finally going to happen; Brendan and Hector were going to talk! “Shall I leave the two of you gents to yourselves then?”

“Stay!” Both Brendan and Hector quickly answered in unison then each gave the other a somewhat odd look.

Now a bit of icy fear gripped Elizabeth’s shoulders. Did they truly not trust themselves to talk unattended? “Well, okay, if you insist, then.” Her shoulders stooped forward a bit, now more worried than she was hopeful. Tension filled the room, and it seemed that everyone was suddenly afraid to speak. This relationship between father and son could be repaired, couldn’t it?

“What is it yeh be wanting with me, boy?” Hector growled, letting go of the sock and no longer playing with the dog.

Brendan sighed. Already this wasn’t going well, largely due to one word that his father had already made use of. “Alright, look, dad, my name’s ‘Brendan.’ I’d appreciate it if you called me that, and not ‘boy.’ You never call Caspian ‘boy!’ Hell, you don’t even call two legged Jack ‘boy!’”

“And when yeh start acting like a man—“ Elizabeth’s words flooded back to him, how he had to be the one to do some giving in, that he was the one strong enough and wise enough to change things with Brendan, and he did hope they could be changed. Hector stopped short, cleared his throat. “Very good then, Brendan. What is it yeh need?”

Elizabeth smiled, but rubbed at her mouth with her hand to hide it, saying nothing, but overjoyed inside that so far, things seemed to settling down right. If this worked, she’d consider herself more brilliant than Hector! But, of course, she’d never be able to tell him why.

Again Brendan sighed, drew in another deep breath. Lonna, he’d talk to her again tonight, and she’d ask how it went with his father, and he so wanted to tell her he’d handled the situation expertly and had made a sacrifice or two in the noble name of family…yeah, women loved that, that would no doubt buy him another night of seeing her in black lace! Yeah, he could do this, just say the words! “Dad, I know you and I have never agreed on much, and that it has lead to a lot of arguments…too many arguments, really. I don’t even remember anymore when it all started, or over what, but,” Brendan took another deep breath and glanced at his mother, who’s eyes were wide with hope and a little fear, but she nodded slightly for him to continue. “But, some of it is my fault, just like some of it is your fault,” he saw his father flinch at that point, a vein popping out on his neck, but Hector was quiet, though his hand had begun to tremble. Hmm…time to tone this down. “It doesn’t matter whose fault anymore, that’s not my point anyway—“

“Brendan,” Hector said, almost like he’d said it sooner than he’d wanted to, then sighed. “Don’t come in here dragging some apology, it’s not worth it.” The next words weren’t so easy to get out, but Hector tightened his gut and pushed them out, feeling Elizabeth’s eyes on him the whole time. “Not so sure I quite deserve it, anyway.”

An apology? Did his father truly think he was coming in here to apologize? For what? He’d only ever defended himself against Hector’s onslaughts, not attacked him! No, don’t let outrage loose, that wouldn’t help this task, and besides, his father did admit he didn’t deserve an apology. That was something. “Anyway, I’m heading out after Snow Crab come January, and I could use another experienced seamen on board, and I thought that maybe if you just saw what I do, you’d see why I do it, and why I love it, and maybe you wouldn’t be so ashamed of me.”

Astonishment lit Hector’s face, and something limped wounded in his heart. “Ashamed of yeh, boy?” He breathed, looking at his son, at the man his son was, tall, strong, capable looking, and wondering how it was that he’d never taken account of it in so long. Sure, Hector had to admit feeling ashamed of his middle son a time or two, for he always did the most questionable of things, but to hear the boy say it himself? That felt quite different…quite dreadful. Oh, and what had he said? “I mean…Brendan…” oh, but maybe he’d said too much! Elizabeth had told him he’d have to be the one to be strong enough to give, but that didn’t mean he should completely crumble into softhearted little bits. Hector took a deep breath, steeled himself once again. “And are yeh asking me to be first mate…on a fishing vessel?” He half growled, able to work up that much of a grumble, though the word “ashamed” still hung heavy in his heart.

Maybe it was the sudden and unexpected look on the old man’s face when he’d repeated the bit about being ashamed, but something lifted Brendan’s spirits a bit and he laughed. “Hell no, dad! I’m asking you to be co-captain; I’d never ask you to be first mate, your track record isn’t real good as a first mate!”

Elizabeth couldn’t suppress her laugh and it escaped her as somewhat of a hiccup, but when she glanced at Hector, even he wore a very faint hint of some cockeyed, proud smile. Good! And how brilliant of Brendan to suggest making his father part of what he did, for that Elizabeth suspected, was another large part of the friction on Hector’s part, feeling as though his son didn’t need or want him.

Hector cocked his head, the offer was quite a surprise, but he knew it had only been extended to make nice, not because he was truly needed. “I thank yeh, Brendan, but I’m no fisherman.”

Elizabeth’s heart sank, though she hadn’t expected Hector would readily agree to go with Brendan. The stubborn old goat! She glanced at Brendan, staying quiet, but hoping this wouldn’t end here.

“Dad,” Brendan grimaced, not believing he was trying this hard, but he was, and he knew why. “It’s not really about the fishing, it’s about The Bering Sea! In January! Gale force winds most everyday, blizzards, freezing spray, twenty foot waves, ice that threatens to freeze solid and gauge your hull wide open…”

Hector leaned forward with clear interest, for there was nothing like an untamable sea! Was that truly what spurred Brendan to chase after crabs? But no, he couldn’t take the offer, not so easily or quickly. “Have yeh asked yer brother if he’d be interested? He might be, y’know.”

Brendan shook his head. “Cass is planning some white water rafting thing down the Nile River or whatever, there’s no sense in asking him.”

“Jack, then?”

Brendan cracked another miniscule smile. “Need someone stronger than, Jack, dad.” He said, then smiled a bit wider. “You know, someone with a Bowflex body!”

A laugh escaped Elizabeth that time, a real laugh. The tension had dissipated dramatically in the room, and she looked to Hector, still saying nothing. He was also laughing now, her heart was happily pounding away again, and she smiled at him, raised her eyebrows and gave him a hopeful nod. Oh please, he had to say “yes!”

Hector’s brow furrowed in fascinated thought. “Freezing spray? Twenty foot waves?”

“Yeah, dad,” Brendan nodded, feeling a bit more excited than he’d expected he might, for his father was definitely interested. “You name your weather nightmare, we got it up there!”

“Socked in by ice and crushed?”

Brendan smiled again. Sheesh, what more would it take to lure him to Dutch Harbor? “I’ll let you drive the boat!”

A warm and happy feeling overtook Hector. “When yeh leaving?” Oh, had he just blurted that out?

Brendan couldn’t stop smiling. “The season opens January tenth, we need to be up there about two days before that to let the Coasties inspect the boat and prove we’ve got a license, and do all the shopping for the galley.” He paused, looked his father in the eye. “Is that a ‘yes?’”

Hmm…well, what father could let his son go on believing he was a source of shame? Elizabeth had said it would have to be him that gave in, and well, this certainly was giving in, turning fisherman and all, but facing the fury of The Bering Sea more than expunged that not so palatable idea. And who knows, Brendan could turn out to be a much worse captain than the great Hector Barbossa, who would have to school him on how a ship and crew was to be run…or, maybe not, and he’d have yet another son to be proud of. Hector stood and strode over to his son, extending his hand to him. “Captain,” he said, with a tip of an imaginary hat.

Brendan did his best to rein in his smile, the moment did seem a bit formal. He took his father’s hand. “Captain!” He replied, and gave his father a nod. His mother was right, he did have what it took to make this happen, and giving in a bit wasn’t as difficult as he’d imagined it to be, even if it meant he’d now be sharing his wheelhouse with his father…who could be quite particular about such things. Still, it would be good to work side by side with his father for a change, instead of working against each other.

The handshake suddenly went still, and just when it looked like that would be the end of the contact, one of them, or maybe even both of them, reached out and put an arm around the other, and a bear hug ensued. Elizabeth couldn’t take it any longer, jumping to her feet and throwing her arms around both of them. “I love you both so very much, do you both know that?” She’d been smiling, but her voice sounded like she was on the brink of tears.

A bit startled now, Hector and Brendan let go of one another, each of them giving Elizabeth a look like they were surprised to see her there. And she regretted inserting herself into that hug, because there was some awkwardness between father and son now. Well, of course there was…she’d told them both she loved them, almost like saying “Good dog!” and handing them a Milkbone. But she hadn’t meant it that way, nor had she been able to help herself. She’d just at times never expected to see this day come. “I’m sorry,” she said embarrassedly. “I intruded—“

“No, you didn’t, mom, it’s cool.” Said Brendan, finding his smile again and beginning to wish it were midnight now, so he could call Lonna and tell her all about this…and open that box! He looked back at his father. “Dad,” he nodded to him. “Looking forward to it!”

“Aye,” Hector smiled back, “Me too, son!”