Matelots by W. A. Hoffman

Author:W. A. Hoffman
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: gay, pirate, buccaneer, west indies, gay relationship, henry morgan, gay pirate, gay buccaneer, matelot, matelotage
Publisher: W. A. Hoffman

Forty

Wherein Trouble Looms Before Us

Theodore was delighted at the news of the impending nuptials; everyone else was surprised. However, our solicitor was the first to question it.

“Why, Will?” he asked. “Did you agree to her demands?”

“Nay, I made stipulations of my own: to wit, that any offspring produced will stay in my keeping, and secondly, that I will not share a house with her.”

“And she agreed to this?” he asked.

I smiled. “Aye, once I made it clear I would walk away from my title over the matter. Though she did not say so, I feel she has more to lose than I if the marriage does not take place.”

“Amazing,” Theodore sighed and rubbed his eyes tiredly.

I wondered if he had continued drinking wine in my absence at the same rate he had consumed it while Sarah told her tale.

“Will you be able to assist me in making the necessary arrangements at the church?” I asked. “I wish to be married on the morrow.”

“Of course, of course,” he said. “Let us bring the matter to conclusion. Will you accompany me there now? The clergy are most likely dining, but as a wedding brings coin, I am sure they will be happy to see us.”

Gaston chose to remain with Sarah, and as I did not want her to remain there with only Pete and Striker, I was pleased in this.

“I am honored by you,” Theodore said thoughtfully as we began our short journey to the church. “And I now understand your hatred of your father.”

“Would you call it hatred?” I shrugged. “He avows he does not hate me, he has merely been disappointed in me and disliked my behavior: long before I grew old enough to know who or what I favored, by the way. The only time he ever showed any interest in me at all was when I returned home after ten years of proving I could do without him, his money, or his name. He seemed to think that proved something of my character, and I suppose it does.”

“This cousin of yours: he may not inherit the title… while you live,” Theodore sighed as he answered his own question. “You do believe your father sent you here to be rid of you.”

I thought on it. “I did not wish to at first, but as time has passed and I have viewed matters more clearly, or perhaps rather from a different perspective, what was once merely a cynical and passing thought has become a thing I put faith in, aye.”

“What brought about your change in perspective?” he asked.

“Experiencing love, or rather, experiencing being loved by another. It was a thing I thought I knew, but prior to Gaston I truly knew nothing of it.”

“You know you will never inherit,” he said sadly.

It was not a question, and yet I was compelled to consider an answer. He was correct: it was not a question, despite all hope Gaston might hold, it was a thing I had long known.

“Nay, I will not.”

“Then why…?” he asked.

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