Neither Lady nor Pirate (Complete)

Chapter Ten

It's Tuesday again.  How does that always happen so quickly?

Also, it's chapter TEN.  Woah.  Feels like just yesterday I was clicking "publish" on chapter one! Time flies when you're having fun.

Read on homies, read on.

XOXO

sophie9630

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TEN

Abbie found sleeping to be very difficult that night. 

Not only was the caffeine still coursing through her veins, but there was also something about the way Finn looked at her while they danced that made thinking about anything else nearly impossible. There was something hidden behind his usually chilly blue eyes; something warm, something...genuine.

It was a look so unlike those of which she received often from Haughtington that Abbie could not place a finger on what it may be.

Her chauvinistic fiancé often gazed at Abbie as though she were a prized mare. She was appealing to look at and served only the purpose of carrying the prize stallion's colts.

She meant nothing to him unless she was on his arm, staying silent, ever obedient to her future husband's wishes. The things Abbie dreamed of never occurred to him.

Finn had a way of making Abbie feel like he could see all the way down into her heart, to see the things she wanted and feared and loved and hated. Despite the fact that he often annoyed her to no end, Finn was the first man Abbie could ever recall who seemed to deeply care about Abbie's perspective of life.

They had talked well into the night, long after the men had wearied of dancing and had taken to poker below deck. The sound of crashing waves on something other than the wooden hull of The Iron Lady was enough to keep Abbie above deck.

Moreover, she was far too bouncy from drinking three cups of coffee to think about sleep. Added to the exhilaration of the presence of land, the evening felt as though it were ripe with opportunity.

The conversation hadn't started out with the intention of continuing all night. But when Abbie shared about her life and as she listened to Finn talk about his, suddenly the caffeine wasn't the only thing keeping Abbie from sleep.

"Abbie," Finn started, gripping the banister and heaving a sigh. "Things are very complicated right now, and I wish they weren't. It makes explaining them very...Complicated. Because I wish I could explain everything that is going on right now, but I can't." For the first time since they'd met, Abbie had been surprised to find Finn scrambling for words.

"No, I understand. You're ready to be home. I don't blame you; staying away from home is not easy." She replied, resisting the urge to lay her hand over his.

"It isn't that, Abbie. Though I must say I agree with you. I can't admit this to the guys but, I miss home more and more the longer I stay aboard this ship..."

From there they'd talked about his father, and then what lead Finn to choose piracy.

Abbie was surprised to learn that Finn had been working at the docks with his father since age ten. He'd hauled cargo to and from ships as they sat in the harbor, lifting boxes and crates that Abbie guessed had weighed more than Finn at the time.

It made sense then, how Port had found him so quickly; an eager young boy, devastated by the loss of his father and ready to prove himself a man for his family.

She then had discovered that Finn had a younger sister named Shannon, who was married three years after Finn made The Iron Lady his home. She had been thirteen. Abbie shuddered to imagine a life of wifehood for such a young girl, but Finn spoke as if there had been no other choice.