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“So, Tell me about your Ed,” Mary had just released Stede from a large hug.
“I think you would get along well, he’s kind and humorous. I don’t think he realizes how charming he is, how beautiful he is. He’s inquisitive and… oh so lovely. He takes seven sugars in his tea. He likes to try new things and take the scariest risks you’ll ever see-”
“Now you’re rambling, Stede,” Mary teased. She wasn’t annoyed. Stede’s excitement to tell her about this man he’d met at sea was endearing. She was happy for him. “What does he look like? I want to know what your type is,” Mary nudged her husband on the arm with a soft chuckle. Stede turned an absurd shade of pink.
“Oh! Well.. He has long black hair, salt and peppered. He had a long beard but he doesn’t anymore.. He mostly wears black and leather and scary clothing but when he wears a nice summer linen he looks very nice..” Stede was staring towards the wall in front of him, as if visualizing deeply what Edward looked like. Mary was lost in thought.
Black hair. He had a beard. A black beard. He wears leather. There’s no fucking way it’s… him, right?
“Is he a pirate, too?”
“Yes. The best I’ve ever met,” Stede sighed. Mary hugged him once more.
“I’m happy for you, Stede.”
“I’m happy for you too, Mary.”
Mary was up late. While Stede was asleep, she went to his old library. She was careful not to wake him or the children. She scanned the room for Stede’s pirate books that he used to try to read to the family. He had taken most of them, but one remained. ‘The Terrors of The Sea: The Greatest Pirates to Ever Live’. She stood on her toes and wiggled the book out of the shelf. It had collected dust in Stede’s absence. She opened it, flipping through the pages until she found it. Moment of truth. Edward Teach. Blackbeard.
“Holy shit,” She muttered to herself. Half afraid, half amused. There was an elaborate drawing on the page. Blackbeard towered over crewmates and dead bodies, blood soaked through the wooden boards of a ship’s deck. Revolvers and knives decorated the pirate’s body, covered in black leather and chains. His eyes pierced through the night as he massacred his victims. This has to be him. Stede’s got a goth boyfriend. A murderer boyfriend. I hope he’s not actually like this. Maybe I’ll ask him. Mary giggled to herself, surprised. Stede Bonnet had run off to sea and fallen in love with Blackbeard. And she’d do anything to help him get back to him. She read every tale about Blackbeard she could find in the old library.
‘Edward Teach has been a merciless killer since age two. Bloodlust has always filled his elaborate mind, making him the most lethal pirate to date. Very few have crossed Blackbeard and his ruthless crew and live to tell the tale. He is elusive, and those who have been in his presence claim that he lacks most human emotions. He cannot love, he cannot empathize. He can only kill…’
“Mary?” Stede’s voice cut through the dark room. “Are you alright?”
“Yes. I have a little question, though,” Her eyes were fixed on the gruesome illustration.
“Ask away,” Stede stepped further into the library, curious.
“Is this Ed?” She turned the page towards him.
“Yes, sort of, I suppose,”
“I’m not following,”
“That’s supposed to be him, but it’s just a made up version of him… he hates seeing those sketches.”
“Is he actually a bloodthirsty killer incapable of love?” Mary teased again. Stede chuckled.
“Not quite, he actually saved my life when we met…”
“How did you meet?” Mary gestured for Stede to sit, and he did.
“Well, I got stabbed and lynched-”
“What?”
“By the Spanish. But, before I managed to die he rescued me and my crew… nursed me back to health,”
“You got stabbed and lynched? ” Mary was still hung up on that statement.
“Yes. But when I woke, he was sitting at the foot of my bed, just caring for me.”
“That’s really sweet, Stede. But why were you stabbed and lynched by Spaniards?”
“I was tricked. Don’t worry,”
“I’ll try not to. I’ll help you go back to your Edward Teach,”
“How about we go to sleep, and in the morning we’ll plan,”
“I’m sure your love is waiting patiently for you,”
“Me too.”
They shared a smile and went off to bed.