The Silent Thief

XVIII

XVIII

       “Grace?!” John yelled as he came running to find me.

Jake turned and stared at the man. John saw me in Jake’s arms and asked, “Is she alright?”

I got a good look at his face. My vision was blurry but it started to clear. “I’m-” I stopped talking because of the sharp pain that rang through my chest.

“Just lay still,” Jake comforted me. He turned to John and said, “Please, help me carry him, I mean her, back to our ship. She’s hurt.”

John knelt down. He answered, “We can’t. Captain Stones has ordered his men to keep firing inland in hopes of killing Grace. Seems like he almost did.” His eyes looked at my body worryingly.

I looked down at myself and saw blood covering my chest. My blood.

“What about Captain James? Do you know?” Jake asked John. Jake picked me up in his arms as if I weighed nothing.

They are fighting Captain Stones at the moment. We need to take her to the nearest town. By the time one of the Captains win, she might be dead,” John answered with tears in his eyes.

Jake nodded his head and started to walk further into the forest. He asked me, “So your name is Grace?”

I nodded feeling guilty. I had kept a lie from him these many years. How could I do that to him? And for him to find out the truth yet still care for me stunned me.

Jake looked up asking John, “Who are you? How do you know Ace, er, Grace?”

John kept walking forward in front of us. He seemed to walk slower as if to think how to answer the question. Looking at his back, he did seem like someone I knew yet he had some gray hair mixed in with his dark brown. I didn’t recall knowing any older men except for Sir William who had almost blonde hair. Then it clicked, and John answered my very thoughts.

“I am her father.”

My loss of blood was overwhelming and I passed out in Jake’s arms.

*******

       When I woke, the first thing I saw was Jake changing his blood covered shirt. His back was to me and he stood in the corner of what seemed like our bedroom. Throwing his shirt on the ground, he picked up a clean shirt on a table nearby. He froze when he heard me cough. In two long strides he was to my side.

Darn you, Grace! My thoughts roamed wild.

“How do you feel?” He asked me.

My hand quickly went to where my mask used to be, or at least half of my mask. Now there was nothing, leaving my face exposed for Jake to take in every detail of me. I started to answer when I noticed his bare chest and stomach. “Jake, now that you know I’m a woman, you have to wear clothes around me.” I started to chuckle but stopped in pain.

Jake looked down and acted like he didn’t know his shirt was off in the first place. He put his shirt on and buttoned it quickly.

I answered his first question, “I don’t know how I feel yet. Right now I feel numb but when I cough or laugh, it hurts terribly.” I pulled the sheets off of me and sat up trying to ignore the almost blinding pain shooting through me. I saw a bandage on my ribs. Above it, I wore a normal woman’s undergarment. Jake turned his head away as fast as he could without breaking his neck. I pulled the sheets back over my chest. “Sorry, I didn’t know I had no shirt,” I blurted out.

“It’s alright,” he answered. “I didn’t either.”

John walked into the bedroom and our eyes met. My father’s eyes, those I will never forget. He looked the same as when I was eight years old; tall, handsome, and kind. “Do you need anything?” He asked breaking the stare. He came to sit by me. “What’s wrong with you, lad?” He asked Jake.