Stowaway (A Pirate Novel) (Completed)

Chapter 54 Yellow Seal

I am posting this chapter now because JINXEDBY_105 is awesome.

She knocked on the door and he called for her to come in. She entered. Nerves made her palms sweat.

He stood and came around the desk.

"Good afternoon, Elizabeth." Said Father Leo with a smile. Her shock must have shown on her face. "Yes. Harv explained your situation and your true identity."

"Yes. I know. It's just strange hearing it used." She confessed. "Good but strange." She added.

He picked up a parchment from the desk. She could see a yellow wax seal. The seal had been broken. He opened the parchment and removed a smaller folded paper from its depths. This one too had a yellow seal, unbroken this time. He passed it to her. She looked down at it in her fingers. Her heart thudded in the confines of her chest.

"I'm sorry." The father said. Elle jerked her eyes up to meet his. Fear slammed her heart against her ribcage. Only a few people knew where she was. They wouldn't write if it weren't import. Someone could be hurt. Please, please, please. "I assumed that you could read it as soon t was addresses to you." The father added softly.

Elle took a step back. "I can, father. I just fear it's contents."

"My child, you're only prolonging the inevitable. You will open it eventually. Maybe tis only a missive that everyone is doing well. Or they inquire about your own health." He quirked a salty brown brow. "Every moment you delay feeds the fear in your heart only making it harder."

Elle knew that he was right. She did. But there were to many people back home that something could have happened to. She was too far away to be any help and that scared her.

She moved her hands and broke the seal. The small sound sounded unnaturally loud in the quiet room.

Elle,
I hope this finds you well. We have discussed it and decided to write every month with news.

However much we would like to hear from you we think it best if you write rarely and only when Father Leo does so as well.
Zara, Miles, Jr, Nathan, Paul, Mel and Harv specifically told me to tell you hello and they miss you. The crew as well.

Nathan and Jr are no longer part of the crew. Nathan and his sister live with a friend of Zara's. The couple, Carra and Jason, have no children and agreed to adopt both children. It seems to be going well. Nathan is still determined to have his own tavern/pub. Carra and Jason had a little money, although far from wealthy, they plan to help him in his goal.

Jr formally proposed and is now engaged. The band's have been announced in the paper.

Mel and Paul (did you know of their relationship) are openly together. They both glare at anyone that mentions marriage.

Miles has joined the crew on short runs. He to tell you that he's still working on it. He didn't say what it was.

Zara told me she went to see your father. She said he looks well. If you send a letter for him she said she would be happy to deliver it to him.

The crew miss you as well. They grumbled often.

Sir T. has increased his efforts to find his lost fiance. There is a reward for information. 50 crowns. Paul has a contact in the mans staff. They have no real information as of yet but they have a rumor of a body found off the coast 4 years ago. It is suspected to be her. He has sent someone to the village to gather information. So have I.

I will make sure the information is gathered and hope to put an end to his search.

Expect a new letter in a months time. Take care of yourself.

The Captain.

Within two hours time Elle wrote two short letter. The first addressed to her father. She didn't address him as father but as Augusta.

Augusta,
I just wanted to tell you that all is well and I miss having a cup of mint tea with you in the evening.
I realize that this letter is too short but I think that is for the best for now.
Just know that you are in my thoughts.
The woman, Z, that delivers this message can be trusted to deliver others.
❇

Instead of signing her name she simply drew a heart and a flower connected by a vine. They were the first things she had learned to draw as a child, her father had taught her.

Z,
You have no idea how much I miss you. I have no friends here like you. There is no one that I can confide in as I did with you.
I have come to a discovery about myself but dare not write the words. Someday, soon I hope, I will be able to share it with you and you can then convince me that I am not as mad as I seem. For surely I am crazy. For I can not remove the thought from my my head no matter how I wish it or how much it pains me.
I pray that this situation comes to an end soon so I may see you all again.
We shall sip mint tea in my father's den. Laugh and enjoy secrets and the rumors that abound in the company of the ton.
Please look after him. He doesn't know the true danger that Sir T is capable of.
Your sister in my heart.

Elle had been tempted to ask about the captain but in truth she didn't know if Zara could read. If someone else read the letter to her Elle didn't want all of her thoughts on the page. She made her way back to the Father's office and requested a seal. He provided a seal with no embellishment and white wax.

As Elle pressed the seal over the warm wax she welcomed the memory of the last time she used a seal. It had been a few weeks before her engagement.

She melted wax on the second folded letter and pressed the seal over it.

The time now passed more slowly. It wasn't measured in days or weeks but in letters.

Her time was spent in the library or in the garden. Sister Emma could make almost any plant grow. A large part of the convents meals came from the garden. Elle found she loved being in the garden, dirt on the hands, the sun above her.

By the time the second letter arrived the air had grown cold and the roots had been gathered for storage, canning and seeding.

The letter was much the same. There had been no true development with Sir Travis. The body found had still not been claimed or identified. The news saddened Elle. Someone's life had ended. No one knew who, why, or how. A family somewhere had no idea that a member of their blood had been buried in an unmarked, unnamed grave.