"Absence is to love what wind is to fire; it extinguishes the small, it inflames the great." Roger de Bussy-Rabutin

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XXVII.

Susanna's claim was met by sneers, sniggers, and even remarks of congratulations from the crew members at the table towards their captain. They appraised her, eyed her in a way that no man had ever dared look upon her before. These were no gentlemen. Susanna immediately realised what they were assuming.

"A young lady no less," said one as he clapped the captain on the back. "Well done, sir."

The captain appeared dumbfounded; his eyes wide with shock as he searched Susanna's face for any ounce of recognition. His eyes then went to Adam and he held up his hands as he shook off the congratulatory hand of his crewman. "Are you the husband?" he asked. "I've never seen her before in my life."

"I am the lady's brother," replied Adam coolly, "and I'll thank the lot of you to remember that you are in the presence of a lady," he snapped at the jeering crew.

"Forgive me, Captain," appealed Susanna, "for you have misunderstood me. We have never met, but I know your son."

Relief flooded the face of Captain Whitfield, who had no doubt been expecting Adam to challenge him to a duel in that very moment. "You are mistaken, Miss," he said dismissively. "I have no son."

He seemed quite convinced, but Susanna could not believe this to be a coincidence. How many sailors with that name travelled through these parts? He was about the right age. There were definite similarities between him and Alex. Would he remember Alex's mother? Or was she ... was he the type to celebrate conquests as his crew seemed to do.

"Susanna, are you certain? How do you know?" Adam asked her quietly.

Susanna briefly looked up at her brother. "Alex told me about his father ... please, believe me."

Captain Whitfield's ears pricked up. "The boy's name is Alex?" he asked.

"Yes, but –"

"Might we step outside, Captain?" Adam calmly interjected.

Captain Whitfield did not seem convinced, but Susanna could see the curiosity and growing unease in his blue stare. He had not entirely dismissed the notion, which meant that he perhaps believed there was a possibility.

The captain nodded, and stood up from the table, folding his hand at cards and forfeiting whatever money was in the pot. He led Adam and Susanna back through the dining room and out onto the porch of Le Chat Dansant. They passed the scantily clad woman who manned the door, the captain muttering something in French to her as he walked to one end of the porch.

Despite the sounds of the street, there was significantly less noise out on the porch than there was in the dining room. The captain finally turned around to face them.

"It's impossible," he said, sounding entirely unconvinced.

"It is entirely possible," replied Susanna earnestly. "Alex told me about you, about his father. Alex knew that you were a sailor, a sailor named Alexander Whitfield, and he was given your name at birth."

"Alex ... Alexander Whitfield ..." murmured the captain as he breathed heavily.

Susanna wondered if the captain was picturing a child. A white child. "Alex's mother was a slave," she continued. "She was enslaved on a coffee plantation in Saint-Domingue."

Captain Whitfield's eyes snapped to Susanna's with a sudden steely gaze. "Saint-Domingue?" he repeated. "Haiti? Her name," he demanded. "Do you know her name?" His brow furrowed intensely.

"Yes," breathed Susanna. "Her name is Amélie Archambeau."

The moment she uttered the name of Alex's mother, Susanna could see the recognition in the eyes of Captain Whitfield. She could also see that he now believed what she had been saying. He remembered Amélie, no matter how long ago their meeting was. But Susanna also had confirmation that her hunch was correct. This man was Alex's father. What divine fortune it was to have discovered him.

"Amélie," uttered Captain Whitfield. "It has been such a long time ..." he stopped, sucking in tight gasp. "But ... a son. Her son. My son. I have a son." Each realisation seemed to hit him one after the other. "Tell me of him," he suddenly demanded. "What news of him? Where is he? Does he know of me? Does he want to know me?"

Susanna wished that Alex were here to witness this concern from his father. Captain Whitfield was worried that Alex didn't want to know him. Susanna knew that Alex had never known much care, and that this would mean a great deal to him.

And the gravity of the fact that Alex was not here weighed upon Susanna heavily in that moment as her eyes filled with tears. Suddenly overwhelmed, she turned to her brother and rested her forehead on his arm, shielding her face.

"We came to meet your son this past summer in London," Adam explained. "My sister, Lady Susanna, and Alex became quite attached to one another. But Alex was under the control of a ... well," he paused, "he was nothing more than a rat, but this rat, nonetheless, sold Alex into slavery a few months ago."

Susanna looked up tentatively, and she saw the captain's face fall with shock.

"Sold?" he struggled to say.

"Yes," Susanna stammered. "He was sold, but he was a free man. He was very proud of his freedom. Despite this, he was taken to the British Virgin Islands. I don't know when he would have reached there, or how far it is from here, but we can't waste another minute."

"You have just arrived from the British Virgin Islands, we understand," added Adam. "Is it part of your route? Could we persuade you to give us passage? You certainly have the incentive."

But the captain did not respond. In fact, he was frozen still, his jaw agape as he stared, once again, in shock at Adam and Susanna.

Susanna knew his struggle. She had been suffering the same worry for months, and it was now only beginning to plague Captain Whitfield. "Please, Captain," implored Susanna. "Will you help him?"

"I think I already have."

Susanna was not entirely certain that she had understood what the captain had just said. Adam seemed as equally perplexed.

Captain Whitfield braced himself on the railing that overlooked Rue Bourbon, turning away from Adam and Susanna. He hung his head as he breathed deeply. "My ship was docked in Road Town, that's the main port city in the British Virgin Islands, a few weeks ago. On that day, I don't know what day exactly, but another ship had arrived, and it carried slaves, half a dozen or so."

Susanna's heart stopped.

"You have to understand, it's not unusual in these parts. Doesn't make it right, but it's not unusual. These people, these poor people are bought and sold all the time, and this lot were no different.

"One of the men, he stuck out to me. He was tall and strong, and he stood with great pride despite what they were doing to ..." Captain Whitfield stopped himself, but Susanna wanted to beg him to continue only she had no air in her lungs to speak. "Well, what they do is inhuman."

Tears continued to roll silently down Susanna's cheeks as she could only imagine.

"He and another, a young girl, were sold to a master on the island. One man named Harold Wilkes. An absolute bastard, though that is honestly too good a name for him. I prayed for them both, for a lack of knowing what else to do.

"I never expected to see them again, and yet that very night they walked down the pier, almost looking for a ship to stow away on." Captain Whitfield took a breath, before he finally turned back to look at Adam and Susanna. "I helped them escape as their master wound up dead. He asked me to take them to Haiti and I did, and as he left, he told me that his name was Alex."

A violent chill ran down Susanna's spine. She could practically hear Alex's voice in her head he was so close. Or, he had been close. He had been alive only a few weeks ago. He had been sold, but he was alive! Whatever had happened in between didn't matter so long as he was alive.

And in Haiti. Had she heard that correctly? Captain Whitfield had taken Alex and another young girl, a freed slave, to Haiti. Could she really allow hope to bubble within her? Was this a good thing? Did that mean that Alex was safe?

"So, ... the boy ... the young man ... the boy I sent off my ship into the sea to swim towards Haiti was my son? I had him within my grasp and I let him slip through my fingers?"

Susanna wanted to ask why the captain had made Alex swim for Haiti, but she couldn't bring herself to ask such a question when the man appeared truly devastated. The look upon Captain Whitfield's face was simply heartbreaking as the realisation that he had been so close to his son without knowing.

But she had to know something. "Was Alex alright when last you saw him?" Susanna's voice cracked.

"He was alive," replied Captain Whitfield quietly. "No man suffers that life and is alright, Miss." Susanna winced as he took a breath. "You knew me." His eyes looked over Susanna. "You heard my name and you knew exactly who I was. He had to have done, too. But he didn't say a word. He didn't want me to know."

Susanna couldn't know the answer to that. Maybe Captain Whitfield's assumption was correct, but Susanna did know one thing to be certain. Alex loved his mother, and returning for her, if he was in reach of her, would have been all he could think about.

"Will you take us to Haiti?" Susanna asked Captain Whitfield again. "We will find him, I know it. And you can have a chance to know him." Susanna had hope. It was a feeling that she had scarcely allowed herself to experience these last months, and now that she knew he was alive, she couldn't help but feel it.

"That boy is my son," Captain Whitfield murmured under his breath, still clearly in shock. "I have to know him ... yes, Haiti ..." He stopped abruptly.

"What?" pressed Adam.

"How soon can we depart?" asked Susanna.

"You cannot go to Haiti," the captain said regretfully. "You, any of you."

Susanna recoiled and she felt a flash of determination. "Of course, we can," she said forcefully. "We have travelled all the way from England. Certainly, Haiti is not far from here. Please, Captain!"

"I will ensure that you are your crew are compensated, Captain," promised Adam.

"Money is not my concern, sir," dismissed the captain. "You both are clearly unfamiliar with the history of these islands. The Caribbean is not England. A few years ago, there was a revolution in Haiti, and the slaves rose up against their masters. Only it did not end there. Every man, woman and child, be him white, he was slaughtered. It is not safe to go there."

Susanna felt the blood fall from her face and her heart fall out of her chest as she felt that beautiful feeling of hope dwindle. How was she supposed to find Alex if she could not go to Haiti? She could not write to him. Panic began to fill Susanna's chest, her lower lip trembled as helplessness began to consume her.

"No," she blubbered. "No, that cannot be it. There has to be a way."

Susanna felt Adam's hand wrap around her in comfort. "I'm sorry, Susanna."

Susanna shook her head. "You made him swim to shore, did you not?" she said suddenly, wiping her eyes with the backs of her hands. "Do the same for me. I can swim." Potentially. "You do not have to approach the island. I will swim there, and I will find him. Just please, take me there, Captain. I beg you! I won't leave him there!"

"Susanna, you heard the man. It is not safe for you," Adam murmured regretfully.

"None of this journey is safe!" Susanna retorted. "But I am so close. He might have slipped through your fingers, Captain, but I let him slip through mine first! I cannot leave him, even if you can."

"I am not intending on leaving him, Miss."

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SURPRISEEEE!

You can thank Queen Liz for the extra chapter as we have her birthday long weekend so it's a public holiday tomorrow. 

I know so many of you were desperate to know how Captain Whitfield would react to finding out he had a son, and I was anxious to know too ;) He's not planning on leaving Alex, so what are they going to do? How will they meet again? What will happen?

BUT!

The most important questions is .... what on earth am I going to put these poor people through next? I mean, I have an evil reputation to maintain, after all! 

*Please leave your reader tears here so I can refuel ready for the next chapter*  

*sips* ahhhh, hits the spot ;)

Hahaha vote and comment xxx