by Ward, Vivian
The doorknob turns, forcing me to bolt out of the chair with wide eyes, worried that it could be anyone walking in.
“There you are,” he smiles, walking in and quickly shutting the door behind him. “I couldn’t wait to get back to you and Lizzy.”
As soon as my heart drops back down to my chest, I return his grin and greet him with a kiss. “I missed you, too.”
Reaching into a cloth bag, he pulls something out of it and begins handing it to me. “This is some dinner for the two of you. I made sure to get her a bowl of soup so she can take her medicine again.”
“Thank you,” I say, placing everything on top of his dresser.
“And there’s a sandwich for you. That’s what we had for dinner. I had to pretend to have a sore throat for the soup, so I wasn’t able to get two bowls. The cook gave it to me on the sly.”
“That’s fine, I appreciate you getting it for her. I’ll go ahead and crush up her medicine.”
After breaking her antibiotics into tiny, crumbled pieces, I stir it into her soup and feed it to her. It doesn’t take long before she gets sleepy with her full belly and falls fast asleep.
“You smell good,” he says, curling up next to me. “Are you feeling any better?”
“A little, maybe. It’s hard to tell because I’ve only had a few doses.”
His lips collide against mine, hard and fast, as he kisses me. “Well, I’ll let you have a little rest tonight but as soon as you’re feeling a little better, you’re mine,” he growls into my ear.
Goosebumps break out all over my body. This is exactly why I’m so drawn to him.
“You know what?” I coo up at him. “I think I do feel a bit better,” returning his kiss. “Maybe I can repay you for taking such good care of us.”
Having Victoria in my room these last few days has allowed us time to bond more than ever and I’ve grown so close to Lizzy. She’s a great baby and while I never wanted children of my own, I must say that rethinking that decision isn’t out of the question. I’ve never seen myself as a father figure but the way her face lights up when she looks up at me is priceless.
I’m dreading when I have to send them back down with the others but the good part is that they’re both sounding better. Their coughs aren’t as deep and I haven’t heard either of their lungs rattling while they sleep. Victoria looks like she’s even gained a few pounds since she’s been under my watch, and she desperately needed to gain some weight! I hated seeing her so thin and fragile.
It sucks that I have shift duty to tend to because I miss my girls so much when I’m away from them but coming back every night makes it worth it when I see their smiles as soon as I enter my room.
Wait. Did I just call them my girls?
As scary as it sounds, it also sounds kind of nice. I don’t know what I’m going to do once we reach Botany Bay. There’s no way that I can say goodbye to them but I must return for another fleet of convicts.
Things can always change, though. We brought a certain number of officers and Marines on board to remain on the island with the convicts to run and oversee things but if some of them don’t make it through the voyage or ask to go back, there’s a small chance that I could be one of the Marines who are left to stay.
And that wouldn’t be a bad thing.
I’d be able to protect them and make sure that they aren’t attacked by some of the other men. I’d also see to it that they are well taken care of in regard to food, clothing, shelter, and medicine. The convicts are expected to build everything that will be needed to live and operate—including shelter for themselves as well as the officers, a storage building for supplies, another building where food will be prepared and served, a supply store, and the list goes on. They’ll basically be creating a brand new colony once we arrive.
But the convicts heavily outnumber us in regards to officers and there’s nothing to stop them from overtaking us. Who’s going to find out if they lock us up or kill us once the ships sail out for the next fleet of prisoners? Nothing will be discovered for months, and that’s what worries me the most.
If the convicts decide to do something like that and there are no law enforcement officials to implement the rules, things will quickly become barbaric and hectic. There will be killings, rapings, theft, and everything else you can imagine.
Standing guard on the quarter-deck, I hear what sounds like Charlotte crying and whimpering near the crew’s quarters. Leaving my post, I go to investigate and find her with a bloody nose, a split lip, and a blackened eye. Her clothes are torn and she’s huddled in a ball.
“Charlotte, are you okay?” I ask, rushing to her aid.
Shaking uncontrollably, she rocks back and forth, barely able to speak. “N-n-no,” she manages to spit out between sobs.
I immediately take off my Marine-issued coat and wrap it around her. All I can think is that Addington did this to her. Maybe they had a fight but I don’t know that he would do something like this.
“What happened? Did Addington do this to you?” I help her to her feet.
Bursting into tears all over again, her body begins to convulse. I pull her close to me, assuring her that she’s all right now. It takes several minutes before she can answer when she finally calms down a little.
“N-no,” she sniffles, wiping some of the blood from her nose, smearing it across her face. “Robert would never do this to me. He loves me too much.”
“Then who did this to you, Charlotte? Tell me and I’ll make sure there’s hell to pay,” I demand.
Shaking her head, she refuses to answer me but I’m not letting her go until I hear a name. Whoever’s done this to her has beaten her almost to a pulp and I can’t let something like this go. “Was it one of your own? Another convict?” I ask, looking around to see if anyone is lingering nearby. I could see her protecting another convict to save grace when they land on Botany Bay and there is even less protection for the ladies but I can’t let someone beat on a woman.
“Charlotte,” I deepen my voice, commanding her attention.
Tilting her head, she looks up at me with fear in her eyes which says a lot because she’s a tough girl. Who could’ve done this to her?
If she won’t tell me, I’ll hunt down whoever did it myself. Knowing her, she fought back and he’ll be sure to have scratches or marks on him.
“If I tell you, do you promise not to say a word?” She whispers as her eyes dart around.
“I’ll personally take care of it,” I assure her. “No one else has to know a thing.”
“Not even Robert?” She begs.
A heavy sigh escapes my lips. “No one.” Doubt casts over her eyes. “I promise,” I reassure her. “I won’t tell him a thing.”
Still shaking in my arms, she licks her split lip in a fruitless attempt to moisturize it and stands on her tippy toes to whisper in my ear.
“Digby,” she says.
My eyes grow wide in shock as my blood instantly begins to boil. “What?!” I ask, sounding louder than I meant to.
“Shhh,” she says, terrified, as she looks around. “You promised.”
“I know, I know,” I say, trying to calm myself as I struggle to steady my breathing. He’s already on my shit list, and has been for a long time, but now? I really want to murder the bloody bastard! This could’ve happened to Victoria and the thought of that sends volts of fury through my blood.
“You won’t tell anyone, will you?” She asks, her eyes welling up with tears.
“I gave you my word,” I promise her. “Tell me what happened. Why did he do this?”
Shaking from the assault and frozen by the biting wind swirling around us, I begin walking her back to my room. Surely, seeing Victoria will help calm her and she has to get warm.
“He wanted to have sex with me,” she begins. “But I belong to Robert and have no interest in being with anyone else. I could never betray him.”
“So he beat you?” I press as we approach my door.
“No,” she
shakes her head. “Well, yes…..after he raped me. He said if I tell anyone that he’ll make sure I don’t make it to Botany Bay. That’s why you can’t say a word,” she starts crying again.
That bloody wanker! Not only does he rape her, but he has the audacity to threaten her life after beating her?
“I don’t understand,” I say. “Why did he want to have sex with you? It’s common knowledge amongst most of the officers that you belong to Addison and there are other convicts. What made him single you out?”
With the frigid temperatures, we haven’t brought hardly any of the convicts on deck for work because they’ll freeze to death so that means he had to pull her out. What would possess him to do that?
“He told me that he found out that I have sex in exchange for food, clothing, etc and that if I wanted to continue then I had to sleep with him, too,” she explains as I open the door.
“Charlotte!” Victoria says, jumping off the bed when we enter my room. “What are you doing here? Are you okay?” She asks, examining her face.
“She was assaulted,” I answer Victoria. “So, he was trying to exploit you?” I ask Charlotte.
“Yes,” she answers. “I’m guessing he found out about Robert and me, so he wanted to use it to his advantage. I’m so scared Robert will find out,” she begins crying again.
If he was trying to exploit her for sex because she already has sex with another officer, that explains why he didn’t go after another convict. He has leverage on her that could get both of them—Charlotte and Robert—in trouble but when she resisted, he did it anyway and then punished her for it.
That bastard.
Then a thought enters my mind. I know he already tried to get me in trouble for the same thing. I wonder if he wouldn’t have pulled Victoria out of there had she been down there. I no longer see red, I see fire.
“Come over here,” Victoria says to Charlotte as she begins drawing a bowl of water to clean her up. “Let me light this candle so I can see better.”
My heart feels like it’s going to beat out of my chest and fly around the room as I think about Victoria being in Charlotte’s shoes. To imagine her soft face all bloody and split open makes my adrenaline surge through my body. He will pay for this.
He’s going to pay for it all!
Pay for trying to get me in trouble, pay for assaulting Charlotte, and pay for breathing the same damn air that the rest of us are breathing. He doesn’t deserve to live.
“Get her taken care of,” I tell Victoria. “I’ll be back.”
“Where are you going?” Charlotte rushes to the door in a feeble attempt to block me. I know she’s scared for her life but she doesn’t need to worry.
“Don’t worry,” I say to her, placing my hand on her arm. “Robert won’t find out. I’m going to deal with it right now.”
“Are you going to tell the Captain or the others?” She says, refusing to move from the spot she’s standing in.
“No,” I shake my head. “This will be our little secret.”
And it will be. I’ll make sure no one ever finds out.
Hesitant to move out of my way, I gently press into the flesh of her arm and move her myself. “Please,” she begs.
“Charlotte, I promise you that no one will find out and that you’ll never have to worry again.” I glance at Victoria as she rings out a cloth. “Take care of her while I deal with him.”
Nodding, she helps Charlotte take a seat on the bed as I close the door behind me. “I’ll be back,” I tell them.
Searching the deck, I look for Digby but he’s nowhere to be found. He’s not at his post, nor in the Captain’s cabin, nor with any of the other officers. Where the hell could he be?
As I make my way around the entire ship without Digby in sight, it dawns on me that he’s probably in his room, cleaning himself up. With the amount of blood on Charlotte, he has to have plenty of blood on him too.
I don’t bother knocking on his door. I turn the knob and to my surprise, it’s unlocked, allowing me right into his room. He quickly spins around, gasping in shock as he sees me standing before him.
“Kent, what are you doing here?” He addresses me.
There was definitely blood on his face. His ill attempt to remove it doesn’t go unnoticed since it stained his skin. Closing the door, my nostrils flare as I take in the appearance of a rapist and woman beater.
“We both know why I’m here,” I lunge toward him.
Panic and terror fill his eyes as he quickly realizes that I know. He’s been caught, and immediately goes on defense mode.
He throws the first punch, his fist busting me right in the nose. The sting from it reminds me of Charlotte’s bloody nose, enraging me all over again. All I can picture in that fraction of a second is her bloody, busted face and her shivering body as she hugged herself on the freezing deck.
Drawing my fist back, I punch him. My fist connects square with his jaw, throwing his face sideways. The smirk on his face pisses me off even more and that’s when I let him have it. Over and over again, my fist connects and reconnects with his jaw.
Regaining his footing, he returns a swing at me as he spits in my face. It lands right in my eye as he busts my lip open. Bleeding and mad as hell, I use my foot and sweep it under his feet, knocking him to the ground. We wrestle some more, rolling over on top of one another back and forth across the room before I finally use my body weight to pin him on the ground.
The smell of blood and sweat consume me as we continue to trade punches. He’s a fighter, I’ll give him that but no matter how good he is, he won’t make it out of this alive.
I’ll make sure I murder this son-of-a-bitch before he ever sees another woman again.
I feel like I’m out of control, like I’m having an out-of-body experience and my mind blacks out. My senses don’t come back until I’m straddling him and hear gurgling coming from his throat as my hands compress his hyoid bone, and then a final crack when it snaps.
His face is bruised and bloody as he lies on the wooden floor, his open eyes staring up at me, bulging out of their sockets. A grin spreads across my face with the satisfaction of knowing that he’ll never cause another problem or hurt another woman.
Within minutes, the gurgling stops and blood begins to pool from his mouth. His chest no longer rises and falls nor does he move. His lifeless body can no longer fight back.
But what now?
I hadn’t thought this far before I barged into his room and killed him, but now I have to do something with his body. If he were a lowly convict, I could just toss his corpse into the ocean and nobody would give a second thought to a missing male convict.
The fact that he’s an officer and has shift duty will raise suspicion when he doesn’t show up at his post and they’ll come looking for him. I can already feel parts of my face beginning to swell so I can’t let them know that we had an altercation; otherwise, I’ll be implicated in his death which would bring me a death sentence of my own.
Quickly slipping out of his sleeping quarters, I make my way back to my room where Victoria is still comforting Charlotte. “Oh, bloody heavens! What happened?” Victoria asks, observing all of the blood on me.
“He won’t be bothering anyone again,” I say, applying pressure to a swollen area on my face.
“You’ve got blood all over,” she fusses, bringing a wet cloth to clean me up. “He’s going to report you!”
“No, he won’t be doing that,” I give Charlotte an ominous look. “He’s gone. Forever.”
“Forever?” Charlotte asks, swallowing hard.
“Forever,” I answer her.
Victoria stops wiping the blood from my nose and chin as her mouth hangs open. “Did you….kill him?” Her voice is a mere whisper.
“Yeah,” I cast my eyes on the wooden floor. Taking another life is nothing to be proud of, but I have to let Charlotte know that she’s safe now. Staring at the wood planks makes me picture his sweaty face as I strangled him to death. I blink an
d look back up at Victoria. “I’ve got to figure out what to do with him. When he doesn’t show up at his post tomorrow, they’ll look for him.”
“What are you going to do?” Charlotte asks. “Maybe Robert can help.”
“No,” I quickly spit out. “No one can know about this. This secret stays here, buried in this room. Remember?”
“But if Robert knew what happened and what you did, he’d help you,” she pleads with me. “I didn’t want him to know but if it means making sure that you don’t get in trouble, maybe he should know.”
She might be saying the words but I can hear the doubt in her voice. It’s obvious that she’s ashamed of being raped and that’s something that I want to protect Robert from. I pity the bastard whoever tries to lay a finger on Victoria. I’d probably be better off not knowing and so will Robert, too.
Shaking my head, I refuse her idea. “No, it’s too risky. The fewer people know, the better. I mean it, Charlotte, not a word to him.”
My ex-wife taught me never to trust people. I hate the fact that Charlotte and Victoria know about the murder that I just committed but I have to let them know that they’re both safe. It’s not that I don’t trust Robert or that he won’t be grateful that I killed the bloody bastard, but I’m worried if he cracks under pressure when rumors start flying or our superior begins asking questions.
After a few hours when nightfall is upon us, I help Charlotte sneak back down with the others but keep my girls with me. I know our days are limited and we can’t keep doing this but I just want one more night.
One more night to hold her in my arms, knowing that she’s safe and well. One more night with her by my side as I figure out to do with Digby. One more night of inhaling her sweet scent and hearing Lizzy babble in the morning, letting me know that everything is okay.
After Lizzy’s fast asleep, Victoria and I lie side by side, wrapped in each other’s arms. “What are you going to do with him? Toss him in the water?”
“No,” I stroke her hair. “That would raise far too many questions, but I might have a plan.”
It’s not completely solid but it might work, and I’ve only got a few hours until the sun comes back up and people start to look for him. It’s my best shot.
