Chapter 45

"Take him," she insisted with a cold glare.

Stark horror and dismay had spread across the midwife's face.

"But my lady, she has not seen him. He needs his mother," the midwife pleaded.

"I did not ask for your opinion now did I?" She stepped closer to the elderly woman that held the bundled newborn in her arms.

The midwife averted her eyes and lowered her head.

"No, mistress." She whispered.

A silent pause passed before she regarded Tempest's mother.

"My lady, where should I take him. I cannot offer him a home. I have no way of caring for him...," she began to panic.

"Leave him at the convent or anywhere you choose. Just be rid of him," her stern glare lowered then to the child.

"Be very careful and utter this to no one or you know what will happen to you," she hissed.

She watched the stout old woman nod her head before tightening her embrace protectively around the bundled baby then she turned and left.

Satisfied, she stood by and watched her disappear in the night with one less burden to deal with. 

At a distance, Collette saw the exchange and lowered her head to dash away a tear. She had no clue what to do. Her heart sank to her stomach with this wrongdoing. But, to say anything about this would cost her dearly.

It had been hours since she gave birth and lost a lot of blood. Exhaustion had rendered her useless and sleep was all she could do.

Collette sat sadly at her side and wiped her brow; tending to her as the wee hours of the night turned into day and even still, she slept until that late afternoon.

Weak and in pain, she finally opened her eyes. The first person that came into focus was her maid, Collette.

"My baby?" she whispered. She lowered her hand to her stomach. Still tender and sore from giving birth, she gasped as she tried to move.

"Careful Mistress," Collette pressed her gently back onto the pillows. "You need your rest," she said softly.

She shook her head and winced. Everything was so fuzzy. She blinked back the tears in her eyes and tried to focus. She turned her head to the side and the other then looked around.

"My baby? Where is my baby, Collette?"

She lowered her head. "Mistress....the baby...,"

"The baby has been taken," her mother's voice shattered the quietness in the room as she entered.

Collette's head shot up to look at Lady Fontaine in shock. She stood abruptly to attention.

"What?" Tempest gasped in pain as she tried to sit up again.

She watched her mother enter in a hurry.

"He is gone," her mother frantically said.

Collette stumbled back nervously.

The warning glare from Lady Fontaine immediately had her exiting the room. Her heart pummeled in her chest as questions from Tempest echoed in the room.

"Where is my baby?" She wailed.

The mumbled lies from her mother only worsened the situation.

"Mother, please tell me, where is my baby?" She cried.

Her mother sat at her side and pulled her into a tight embrace. She consoled her as best she could as she continued to explain to her what happened.

"It was that evil pirate. He sent that old woman here as a midwife," she cried piteously holding Tempest tight in her arms.

"No," she shook her head. "That cannot be true," she pulled away from her mother. Tears flowed like river streams down her cheeks.

"He would never do that," she cried out.

Her mother sadly held her cheeks. "He did," she insisted.

Tempest cried out in agony as the words finally sunk in.

He took my baby...

She screamed and tried to pull away. Her cries echoed throughout the house. The desperate seconds went by as she continued to scream and fight her way out of bed. Weak and distraught she was held down by her mother and Sophie as Collette struggled to pour laudanum down her throat.

Finally, minutes passed and her struggles slowly subsided until she lost consciousness.

"Oh, Mistress," Collette cried. 

Suddenly she was pulled around to face her irate mother as Sophie huddled fearfully behind her.

"You will not mention this to anyone. Or both of you will pay with your lives," she shoved Collette roughly into Sophie. 

Terrified, they hugged each other close and watched Tempest's mother leave.

"Oh! Collette, what are we to do?" Sophie turned to face her. Collette at a loss for words shook her head. There was no way they could do anything.

She knew that Lady Fontaine was not one to cross. But she had no idea she would be so ruthless, so evil. What mother could do such a thing to her daughter?

******

The days that passed since the birth of her child, was a horrible nightmare.

She was inconsolable. She waited for her child and begged to be let go so that she could search for him. When her father returned, he was beside himself with such news that he sent out a search for Justin on the orders that they find his grandson then hang that pirate.

The commotion in the home had the staff at their wit's end as she cried nonstop and refused to eat or sleep.

A month had gone by, and it was a torturous reminder that she didn't have her baby. The monotonous affirmation of his abduction was continuously pounded into her brain by her mother. An endless cycle of mental torture.

He took him...

The Black Scourge took him...

With every sunset, she wept for her baby and with every sunrise, she vowed that Justin would pay for what he had done.

Her mother did little to help. She fed her lies. Fed her grief with them and that fueled Tempest's anger and hate for the man she once vowed to love forever.

Then slowly the days turned into gruesome slow weeks where she had turned bitter and cold. 

She was not getting any better. No matter how many times her father begged her to try. To believe that he would return her son. She had nearly graced death's door twice; enduring long days without food or water and finally taking off in the dead of one winter night, in search of him.

Her mother was ever the doting matron in her father's presence only to become evil with the endless accusing tirade of how stupid of her to let the pirate bed her and get her with child. Tempest had soon become the shell of the girl she once was. She had succumbed to the darkness that threatened long ago to suffocate her and drown her in her misery. It succeeded.

She...was...nothing...

She felt empty and everyone around her dreadfully saw it. Her maidservants tried in vain to console her, but it was no use.

Her mother waved it off as a phase she will get over. 

Her father felt helpless. His weakness to save his daughter and put the sun back in her spirit led him to abandon all hope...So he left for sea.

Haines took this time to his advantage. His presence only fueled her hate and disdain for him in silence as he reminded her daily that she can bear his children, discarding any interest in her baby with Justin.

When signs of her ailment subsided, he took her back to his home. 

Even with the change of atmosphere, she showed no improvement. She barely left her room. She barely uttered a word. She barely acknowledged his presence.

It went as far as taking their meals in silence all without meeting his eyes when he spoke. That infuriated him. 

So much so that he was beginning to get impatient with her.

He vowed that her cold detachment would end very soon. And he would make good on his threat one evening when she sat alone in her room.

He approached her.

When he stood before her, he kept his features expressionless and merely studied her without blinking. "Until when do you plan on crying for your bastard child?" He murmured ruthlessly.

She said nothing.

He tilted her chin up roughly to look at her. He held Tempest's empty gaze and muttered through clenched teeth. 

"Say something," he violently shook her.

Then he shoved her onto the bed. He wanted a reaction. He wanted the heated, hateful words. The spitfire that she once was. But deep down it did not matter to him as she now lay unresisting beneath him, letting him do what he would with her body. She bore no reaction to him as he climbed above her and undid his breaches and pressed his erection into her.

There was nothing. He clenched his jaw tightly in anger as her distant gaze remained the same. He drove himself viciously into her, staring into two dark murky pools of nothingness.

His nails dug into her hips while he surged into her again and again until the horrible, loveless orgasm slammed through him, and he shuddered. Finally sated and it was over, he pulled away and stumbled back, straightening his clothes.

He stood there and watched as mutely lay there unmoving. He shook his head in frustration and calmly said, "Ready your things, we leave for Tortuga in 2 days' time."

The moment the door shut; it was as if a spark from a flint began within her.

Tortuga in 2 days.

Enough time to exact her revenge.

On ALL of them.

*****