Stranger Things have Happened...

I took him down to the lower decks where the cannons were, and let him run around and climb on the cannons, taking pictures all the while. But when I took him to the hold to see the treasure, he stayed right by my side and seemed afraid to touch anything. I told him it was my ship, and I said it was OK.

He jumped onto a pile of gold coins and tried to make a golden snow angel, just laughing his head off, I realized I wouldn't mind having a few kids like this myself.

I took pictures of him trying to swim in the coins, and then I put him on the shoulders of one of the statues and took another picture. "Can you take a picture of me sliding down that pile of stones?" He pointed at a pile of precious gems.

"Go for it!" I told him.

He slid down three times, I took six pictures. He ran over to me and curled his finger, I bent down to see what he wanted, and he kissed me on my cheek. "I enjoyed myself a lot, but I think I should get back to my Mom, she might be getting worried about me." I smiled and held out my hand. After about four steps, He began walking funny, "Something is hurting me when I walk but I can't reach it." I asked him to turn around so I could check it out. He did and I pulled a ruby out from under his belt the size of a robin's egg.

He began to cry, so I asked if he was OK. "You've been so nice to me, and now you think I was trying to steal that stone." I snatched him up and hugged him, telling him I knew he wasn't trying to steal it. His crying stopped, So I began carrying him up the ladders to the main deck. I stopped by a cabin where we put all the old uniforms in, and found a small pirate hat that fit him pretty well.

"There you go, now you're one of the crew!" His smile showed like the sun when I picked him up and carried him the rest of the way up to the main deck and down the gangplank. I set him down when we were on land. he smiled and held out his hand, saying "Thanks for the tour, Captain!" I shook his hand, telling him, "Any time, matey!" He turned and ran into the crowd yelling, "Mom! Mom! Look what Daddy gave me!"

'DADDY...??'

I watched as the crowd parted for the child as he ran up to Katrina and Carolyn. I turned and walked back to the Orion. 'What the fuck is going on?' my mind asked. I told my crew to continue with the tours, limit of 5 at a time. I had something I needed to do.

I went into the Captain's cabin and pulled out the drawer under the bed, revealing 24 bottles of liquor... well 23 now. Then went into the first mates' cabin and peeled away the wax sealing the cork into the bottle. I took a sniff I couldn't tell what kind it was, so I took a drink, and then coughed for about a minute. Brandy, stronger than I ever tasted before, even before I took a second drink I could feel the warmth of the first drink spreading through my body.

A couple of minutes later Anton poked his head inside, "Can we talk?"

"Do we have anything left to talk about?" I answered flatly

Anton flinched like I had struck him. "I don't know the particulars between you guys, but they came to me saying that a child should at least meet his Father."

"The phones at the office don't work anymore?" I took another sip, "How about I sign the lawyer business over to you, that way you can keep doing what you think is best for everyone and hire them at a salary that pleases you all. Then you can go back to the office and live the life you choose to with a clean conscience and leave me to my treasure hunting?" I took another drink, "Or better yet, I'll sign it over to the kid so he can live the life he wants to, and do whatever he wants with his life."

My voice grew louder the more I went on. How do you tell someone that you'd been practically raped in the shower by your fiance's mother when you were mentally and physically compromised, then getting her pregnant as a result, then both of them showing up with the child expecting you to be overjoyed that it all happened? What planet were they from?

Anton just stared at me wide-eyed, his mouth open but nothing was coming out.

"How about I go into the Captain's cabin and use the old paper and ink well and then use a feather to make it all officially pirate-like?" Anton was still speechless,

"So I guess we don't have as much to say as you thought we did, Anton. I hope you enjoyed the tour!" I walked around the desk opened the cabin door, and waited.

"I'm sorry about everything, Mikel," as he walked out the door.

I waited until all the tours were done, and everyone was again standing on the shore. Then I walked on deck and took the helm, "Alright me hardy's, attend the rail and cast off the lines! My Lady aches to feel the sea again!" I took her out to the mouth of the bay, and as soon as we entered open waters, I'd swear the Orion started to tighten up and run true like she really did miss the sea!

We anchored about a mile out, and I had everyone double-check the ship to make sure there was still only minimal leakage throughout the entire ship. I counted the able hands aboard and found we had 40 sailors. Then, the leadman of the sailors I hired came up to me and jokingly asked me, "So, how does it feel to be the richest pirate on earth?"

"Actually, I've had better days," I told him, "This find will make it so everyone knows my name, But half of me is beginning to wish I would have kept it secret."

"I think I know what you mean, I couldn't wait to get out on my own, and all my family could do was tell me how stupid I was for doing what I love. Now I'm sailing Galleons and such, I've even found a bit of treasure myself, and now they all want a piece of everything I do." He said.

"My family was deep into the drug trade. I broke all their arms and legs and then had them put in prison," was my reply.

"I think we both need a drink. How do you feel about rum?" He asked.

"You brought some rum aboard?" I laughed.

"Actually, no. It was already here. You have 19 casks of rum in the forward smuggler's hold." He had a sly grin.

I started to feel a bit better when I laughed, "I had totally forgotten about that trying to get everything ready for the big reveal. want to go see if there is an aft smuggler's hold before we get shit-faced?"

After an hour of stomping around on the lower deck, we found nothing. Another hour yielded the same results. We were in the lowest cabin under the Captain's cabin, he was sitting on a barrel, and I was leaning against the back wall. We both started to laugh at how stupid we must have looked, stomping all over the place when we decided it was time to start drinking. My back was to him as he jumped down off the barrel sending it rolling across the deck. it rolled across my left foot, making me fall, I reached out to the lantern hanging on its bracket and felt it give as I pulled down on it.

A small doorway opened up about a foot away to the right. It revealed a hold about ten feet deep and running the width of the ship. We both looked at each other and began to smile! I stood watch while he went to get a couple of flashlights. He came back and tossed one to me. "Captain's first" he chuckled. I looked inside, and saw chests stacked on top of each other banded to the wall. As I stepped inside, I noticed large barrels roped to the inside wall.

There were cabinets all along the top of the back wall, running right above the biggest chest I had seen yet. I told my new friend to run up to the cabin where we put the uniforms and grab me a cutlass. While he was gone, I broke the seals on the cabinet doors, revealing women's items encrusted with gems and carved with animals and scenery of the day. As well as a box of wood banded with gold straps. I knew it was important because the lock was made as part of the box.

When he came back, I had him stand outside and shine his light on the lock of the big chest, and then, just like in the movies, I swung the cutlass with both hands and broke the lock. I lifted the lid and found no treasure but mountains of white lace and an envelope resting on top. I opened the envelope and found it was written in Spanish. We closed everything back up and took the box and the envelope up to the Captain's cabin to have a look.

We both could barely speak Spanish, let alone read it, so I took a picture and emailed it to my old Spanish teacher, asking him what it said. He replied back an hour later, asking me where I got it. I pulled up a selfie picture of the treasure and me, with the caption 'right next to all this crap!' "Holy Fuck!" was his first reply, then his second was, "Did you find the Orion?"

I told him that I had indeed found the Orion, I received no further texts, but my phone started ringing. I answered, and it was him. "I'm in the middle of class so I want to share it with the class." I got a video chat request, so I accepted it. I noticed that he put it up on the big screen because I could see the entire class with him front and center.

"Mikel, treasure seekers have spent over a hundred years looking for the Orion. How the hell did you find her, and how far down was she? I told him to sit down, and after he did. I kept the phone close so it only showed me, I walked out onto the main deck and reversed the camera.

"Everybody, meet the Orion!" I smiled.

"You're fucking sailing her? She's still afloat? How?" I told him the story of how I came across her. His mouth was working, but nothing was coming out. I walked down to the treasure hold and panned the camera from left to right, the class erupted with whistles and other remarks.

"OK, Now for the bonus round. If you can tell me what the letter says, you could win this bad boy," I held up one of the Toledo Salamunga Broadswords we found.

He fell against his desk grabbing the edge of it to keep from falling down. "Sweet Jesus!" Then he gathered himself, "Mikel, the letter was from Queen Isabella to her daughter Princess Ezmerelda, giving her some last-minute advice on her upcoming marriage and other personal matters. King Charles the Fifth and Queen Isabella of Spain arranged Princess Ezmerelda's marriage to Prince Gregory, who was, at the time, The Prince of Wales. The marriage was supposed to connect Spain and England and put an end to their war. The Orion, after its treasure run, was meant to be her dowery until it disappeared." He sighed, "You're sailing around on a large piece of history!"

"Well damn! That just ups the value of my find because, you see, I also found the two pirate ships that raided her." I smiled. "If you really want to see where I found her, google it." After a few minutes, I heard the boom, and then 'Thunderstruck' began to play on my phone. I heard the class applaud as the scene played out. "So are you coming to collect your prize, or should I just mail it to you?"

"Don't you dare!" He almost yelled, "I'll fly out in two days to collect it!" I heard a female voice ask about exams. "Screw the exams! They can wait til next week!"

I couldn't breathe from laughing as I ended the call.

I turned to Tim, "I don't remember that option when I had to take his class."

*************

The dawn came early. When the town came to life, They all started waking up to the smell of a massive breakfast! I called in three food trucks and had two large grills in the center, pumping out pancakes and waffles, along with bacon and sausage. It was the weekend so nobody had to rush off for work. I called the town together and gave them the option of keep working where they were, or take a job at the tourist/treasure center we were going to build.

After I contacted a top firm to do the audit of the Orion and the other ship while I had my own security team make sure nothing unwanted happened during the audit. I was able to enjoy my breakfast and coffee with a large glass of OJ. Tammy2 came to sit beside me, "So what's going on?" she asked.

"Refilling my tank, I expect the Spanish will be here soon," I replied.

"I mean with Katrina, Carolyn, and the boy" she gave me a hard look, "I've talked with them and even though they thought they were sly, I picked up what happened between them and you. Mikel, you need to realize something about the feminine mind. The bond between mother and daughter is a bond of love and protection. To attack one is the same as attacking both. when her mother got attacked her first thought was to protect her daughter, but when she was helpless, her daughter stepped in to protect her from her father. It can make it seem that the only one they can trust and love without repercussions is each other. The only thing they can share freely is each other. When you were accepted into the mix, you became part of the same loving, protecting, sharing, relationship. You assumed the role of also being loved, protected, and shared."

"So now you have to ask yourself, is your love for one strong enough to save them both, or weak enough to damn the both of them. What Carolyn did was misguided, but she was hoping that if there was a child, you would stay with them willingly and love them both as much as they love you." She took my phone, keyed in my code, and pulled up the pictures I had taken of the boy. "It looks like he already made his choice."

She took my glass of OJ, and drank half of it. "If you don't want people to know your code, you should hide it better," and walked away.

That afternoon I was sitting on the sea wall when I heard footsteps behind me, I halfway turned around and saw the boy looking at me while glancing at the water at the water now, and again. "Excuse me Dad, but can I ask you something?" I nodded, "Have I done anything to make you mad at me?" I sighed and lifted him up on my lap.

"What's you're name?" I asked.

"Jimmy" he smiled.

"Well, Jimmy, You haven't made me mad, you were just unexpected like your mom and aunt were, just showing up when I had no idea you were coming. Hell they never told me you were born, or that I even had a son, so I guess I'm still in shock about it a little. I just hoped I haven't disappointed you having to pay attention to everything and not have enough time for you. I lost my dad because some very bad people didn't want him around anymore.

"Aunt Kat told me about it. If it had been me, I would have made sure they were never found!" He looked angry. "What made you stop?"

"Because Jimmy, sometimes letting someone live in pain for what they did is far worse than killing them without making them suffer for their crimes. I loved my father dearly, and I wanted to make sure they felt the same pain I do for the rest of their lives."

"Enough talk about sad things, I want to share something with you. Do you trust me enough to go swimming now?" I smiled.

"Only if you hold my hand," he said, straightening his back a little to show he wasn't afraid.

I put him in the car and got in on the driver's side. We drove to town, and I bought him his own diving suit, gear, and tank. I knew he had begun to have second thoughts, but I reassured him it would be OK. On the way back, I told him about the other ship lying on the bottom, and we were going to check it out. We got back to town, and I asked Tammy if she would mind if we changed into our suits there and then I carried our gear to the water's edge.

I got him ready first, and then I got ready. I walked him out to the three-foot mark made sure his mask and everything was operating properly, then we took two more steps and sat down, we spent the next two hours feeding the fish. He got a real charge about the fish coming up, and taking the food from his outstretched hand. He looked at me and his eyes told me he was hooked.

We stood up and walked back to the shore. I showed him how to shut off the tanks, he watched me intently making sure he knew how. We pulled off our hoods, and used the water to slick back our hair from our face. That's when we heard, "Don't call the police, we found him!" I just removed his weight belt when Kat and Carolyn came running up. Before they could say anything, Jimmy ran to them, "Mom, you should have seen it, I was scuba diving! We feed all kinds of fish, they even ate from my hand!" The look he got made him feel ten feet tall, the look I got said, 'we'll talk about this later.'

"Mom, Aunt Kat, can I go swimming with Dad tomorrow too?" I thought only puppy-dogs could do the 'pleading eyes' thing, but Jimmy had it down to a science. "We'll see, OK?" He ran off to tell his friends about his first dive. Which left the two women to shoot daggers at me with their eyes.

"Just what the hell did you think you were doing?" Carolyn almost hissed at me.

"Getting to know my son, which neither of you even tried to tell me I had. So if either of you want even a chance of this to work, you'll back the fuck off and let him set the pace!" My voice had an edge to it that made them both pull back. "So if you will excuse me, I have to take care of our diving gear." I walked between them. so I could go store the tanks and dry out the suits on the rack.

I ate supper aboard my boat, thinking about my Dad and how he made it fun to grow up, always having something fun we could do together. I realized I had some changing to do before Jimmy and I got that close. I was deep in thought when I heard someone hailing me from the dock. "Permission to come aboard, Captain?" I came out on deck to find Kat and Carolyn standing there. I knew the time had come for 'the big showdown' so I nodded my head, and they came aboard.

Right away I could tell that Carolyn wanted to take the back seat in this conversation. I asked them if they wanted something to drink. They asked if

I had some wine, I opened a bottle we retrieved from the Rayker, and poured them each a glass, I waited til I saw the look on their faces after their first sip. The look was priceless because they didn't expect the wine to be so strong. "What is this?" Kat finally got out.

"That wine is what they drank in the old days, and I do mean old days, it's over a hundred years old!" I laughed, "That bottle would cost you thousands if you were to buy it today." I wiped my eyes and did my best to stop laughing. "So, where shall we begin? Why I took off like I did, or why we never talked about this relationship before now?"

I noticed Carolyn wanted to look at anything else but me right then. Kat shot her Mother a sideways glance and then looked at me. "I should have spoken to you about my relationship with Mother, but things were moving so fast, and you were always moving faster than anyone. You handled your business side, and your personal side with apparent ease, I think I took it for granted and thought I always had time later to talk to you about it. But when it came time to talk, I was afraid it would scare you off, and I didn't want that, so I never had the strength to tell you,"

"I'm sorry!" Carolyn blurted out. "When I did what I did, I thought that it would be something else for you to love and keep you with us. I saw your answer in the tub of your hotel suite, and it broke me, I told Kat what I had done, and she slapped me, and walked out of the room. She never spoke to me for a month about anything, and then when she finally did, she screamed, 'How could you destroy my love so casually?' and I realized that what I had done was for me, and not us. I can't say I wished it never happened because then I wouldn't have Jimmy. The only thing I can do is beg your forgiveness, and hope you will show the both of us some mercy."

I turned to fill my glass with the last of the cask of rum from the Orion. I didn't turn around right then but looked out the window. I had so many emotions running across my face just then, I didn't know which one they would see. I finished my drink in one gulp and then refilled. The fire burned all the way down, and the warmth quickly spread through my body, then I saw a way for all of us to get what we wanted. I turned back to the both of them.