Excuse Me?

(William’s P.O.V)

After speaking with John yesterday about the woman he had driven looking like my Charlotte, I couldn’t stop thinking about her. Every day from the time we had left to ending up jumping through time, I thought of her and our child she was carrying. Charlotte wasn’t a one-time fling like I had intended, I grew to love her and her gentle nature. She would have been a wonderful mother. That night, when I got back to the house that my men and I owned, I laid awake in my bed replaying the course of my life. At over 200 years old I have yet to find someone like my Charlotte and I don’t think I ever will, considering we can’t leave this damn island. There is some force that is keeping us here and we can’t figure out a way around it, let alone WHAT it is. The morning dawns bright and sunny like always, and I feel the nerves setting in for this afternoon. I took John’s advice and set a reservation for 12:30 at Harry’s for myself and my main crew members, Harry, Edward, and Arthur. At around 12:50 a group of women enter the restaurant, talking and laughing with the hostess who is escorting them to their table. Then I see her. A relatively tall woman, with olive skin, my Charlotte’s hazel eyes, and black hair. I can see Charlotte all over this woman’s face. She looks at me with a hint of recognition but mostly shock and surprise.

“William, is that the woman that John was talking about?” Arthur leaned over to whisper.

Arthur Maloney was my gunner and the cook aboard the Bloody Hangman, which has been cleverly disguised as a floating museum. Okay well not clever but at least it’s being maintained in the way that it should. He’s 214 years old with deep blue eyes that contrast his dark brown hair.

“John was right, she looks like my Charlotte,” I respond in a whisper of utter disbelief.

I need to meet her, this sudden urge to be near her and know her comes rushing through me, a sense of paternal protectiveness.

“We’ll follow them after their lunch. John texted saying that he will be giving them a ride to the old tavern where you met Charlotte. He doesn’t know why but that is what the woman requested of him.” Edward states.

Not many people venture to the tavern, it’s old and decrepit but still stands as a historical landmark because of the age in which it was built and the rumors that pirates found their wenches there. Which is true enough. I couldn’t concentrate on the conversation the men were having because I was so lost in my thoughts about the past and about Charlotte. It felt like time had been crawling at a snail’s pace until the women were walking back through the restaurant and out to the limo where John was. We hurriedly paid our bill and made our way to the SUV, driving as quickly as we could to the old tavern. We pull up before the limo gets there, hiding amongst the trees and overgrown bushes.

“My mother says that this was the tavern she worked at.” I hear a feminine voice say.

“Great granny knew a thing or two about riding that disco stick huh?” Said another woman.

I hear a slap of skin on skin and someone saying “ouch!”, meaning that someone had just been hit.

“That’s for calling great granny a whore.” The first woman says, laughter lacing her tone.

“Fine fine, no more calling great granny a whore. I promise Nerina.” The second woman says.

Their footsteps get closer and closer to the derelict building, and I hold my breath, if her great grandmother worked here, she may know what happened to Charlotte and our child.

“Wow, I’m surprised this is still standing. It looks like it’s about to collapse.” A woman, with a Yorkshire accent comments.

“I know, it’s a little creepy looking, to be honest.” Another woman states.

“Well, we aren’t going to figure out what happened to Charlotte if we don’t take a look.”

Charlotte? She knew my Charlotte!? I couldn’t contain myself, and I burst through the brush coming face to face with the woman who looked like my darling.

“Why are you looking for Charlotte?” I demand.

Once over the initial shock of me coming out of my hiding spot, the woman in front of me blinks her eyes and shakes her head.

“She’s my great grandmother. Well, there’s more than just one great attached to that but for the sake of time and figuring out familial relations, she’s my great grandmother.”

“You look so much like her. Do you know if she survived childbirth? My child obviously did, but did she?”

“Your child? What the hell? You’re like 30.”

“I’m William Teach, I was born in 1801 and I met Charlotte LeBlanc here in Bermuda at this very tavern.”

The silence was deafening, the group of women was staring at me like I was crazy, and I finally noticed that Edward, Arthur, and Harry were standing by my side.

“You’re insane and you need to leave.” One woman said.

“William, come. You’re scaring them, they don’t understand what has happened and you need to figure out how to explain it to them.” Harry whispers in my ear.

“No! I’m not leaving, she’s my granddaughter!” I shout, pointing at Charlotte’s look-alike.

“You’re nuts!”

At this point, her and her friends were backing away from us, getting ready to bolt. I had to let her go, I needed to be able to explain to her what happened. To do that I need to go to the villa where they are staying to have this conversation and I needed my men with me to back me on this. By the time these thoughts finished, the group of women had already left and were probably back in the limo with John driving them back to their villa.

“She looks just like Charlotte; John wasn’t kidding about that.” Edward says as we make our way back to our vehicle.

“I’m going to need you three to come with me tonight to their villa.”

“What?! Why?” Arthur asks.

“I’m going to need you guys there to help me explain what has happened, they won’t believe just me.” I answer.

“Well, how about we wait and do this tomorrow? I think it’ll just be too much for them if we were to come over tonight.” Harry says.

“Fine, tomorrow night then.” I agree, rather reluctantly.