The Pearl Maiden

Gabriella grinned.

"I come tell you, Mister William. You have son. You see Christina when we done. I come get you."

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Gabriella did get him that morning, just as she did on four other mornings over the years. Over those years, Christina gave him three sons and two daughters, and his boatyard gave him thirty sloops that he sold.

His staff had grown over those years as well. The carpenter now managed the lofting ways and supervised six native ship's carpenters he'd taught the trade.

Likewise, the blacksmith managed the three forges manned by native men he'd taught. The former farmer managed both the rigging of the sloops and the operations of the rope yard he'd built. He'd proposed to William that hemp was easier to grow than tobacco, and he knew how to turn hemp fibers into cords, cords into ropes and ropes into cables. There were three native men who raised the hemp and when it was harvested, processed the stems into fibers. Four workers in the rope yard spun those fibers into yarn, the yarn into cords, and finally into the various lines and cables needed to rig the ships.

William had become wealthy in the process, but he hadn't forgotten how that had happened, nor had Christina. One day, she and Gabriella brought the older children to see the boatyard, and as Gabriella took them to see the sawyers and the smith's shop, Christina slipped her hand in his.

"My husband, for a pirate, you have become a successful business man, more successful I think than were you still sailing the Caribbean."

William squeezed her hand.

"That is true. And you have changed from a girl to a wife I could never live without and a mother to my children."

"I know you enjoy the making of children as much as do I. Do you enjoy being a father as much as I enjoy being a mother?"

"I did not think I would, but now, I do."

Christina moved his hand to her belly.

"I believe that you will be a father again soon. Do you feel how my belly grows?"

William smiled. Yes, he did, just as he'd felt it the times before. He'd also felt the breasts that had expanded that she might feed their first son but didn't again return to their original size, and the hips that had become wider and more sensuous.

He smiled.

"Yes, I feel it. Do you suppose this will be our last?"

Christina put her hand on his chest and stroked lightly.

"That depends upon you, my husband. I think I shall not wish to stop the cause for a long, long time yet."

William took Christina in his arms, kissed her, and then smiled.

"Neither will I, Christina. Neither will I."