The coolness of night came into the window with a light breeze as the white curtain of Melissa's bedroom window blew softly in the breeze. Melissa lay tossing and turning in her bed for hours as the yells of her father, her sister Michelle and a man had filled their home.

It had ended with the smashing of glass and the slamming of the door. She heard her father storming around outside of her bedchamber door and then through the kitchen before she heard the door slam shut and the house grew silent.

She fell asleep in the coolness of the Spanish night. The only thing to be heard outside were the trees blowing in the breeze. Melissa curled in a ball and slept in a deep sleep forgetting the world around her.

Her father and Michelle had been fighting so much recently but it was much better than hearing the late night cries of Michelle in her bedroom after their father had checked on her in the middle of the night.

Something felt different this time about Michelle and her father fighting. There was someone else involved.

Melissa couldn't make out the words that were yelled between the man and her father or from the cries in Michelle's voice. The only thing Melissa made out was the glass breaking and the door slamming shut before it ended.

Melissa's deep sleep ended hours later as the moon finally took its place in the night time sky and the breeze had settled in the cool night as Bohemas, Melissa's father stumbled into her bedchamber bumping into the dresser and the bottles of perfume crashing down onto the dresser.

"Papa?" Melissa questioned, her eyes blurred from sleep and her voice filled with sleep.

She was disoriented as she watched her father stumble across the room and curse from bumping into the wooden dresser.

"Papa?"

"Melissa," he said as the fresh smell of rum and bourbon hit her. He had gone out drinking..again.

Drinking wasn't something he handled well it made him angry, it made him boisterous. She would be on the receiving end of his anger, she always had been.

She never did anything that pleased him, nothing made him happy. She was the mistake in his life that he wished to be rid of. Nights of him drinking led to nights of her taking a belt to her back, a switch or whatever he could find.

Nights of him drinking led to the destruction of happiness and days of bruises that covered her back, legs and face.

She braced herself for another night of painful punishment for something she did wrong or because he was upset with her sister for whatever she had done.

Her papa took a seat on the edge of her bed, looking at her with what she thought were red eyes, his eyes met her blue innocent eyes.

"Your no good sister left us tonight for that no good gypsy pirate man she has been sneaking out to see. Did you know anything of this man?" he asked angrily as he messed with the shirt he was wearing.

"No, Papa. I had no idea," she responded as she watched her father's movements.

She swallowed as he took off his shirt in front of her exposing his bare chest and stomach to her. She had never seen him in this state before.

"Is she gone? Forever?"

"He took her away from us, Melissa," he said,

"she's not coming back. She's gone. She's NOT welcome here again. She made her choice. You will not speak with her again or make an effort to bring her home. She made a fool of me. She is gone," he said as he reached for the belt on his breeches.

She held her breath as he pulled it off bracing herself for what she knew was next.

She pushed the covers away knowing it wasn't worth an argument, the sooner she took her punishment the sooner it would be over. He threw his belt to the floor throwing her off this was different, the look in his eyes was different. There wasn't rage, there was lust, sinful lust toward his young daughter a look she had never seen before.

"Papa, what are you doing?" she asked as he moved closer to her, her blonde curls falling below her shoulders as she sat in a white night rail.

"Melissa," he said softly, alcohol in his voice as he reached out to touch her soft curly hair.

"You have hair like your mother," he said. "Every day you remind me of her. She challenged me like you do.

Every day she challenged me," he said playing with the blonde curl.

"She upset me by challenging me but I loved her." Melissa eyed his fingers as he twirled the curl between his fingers.

"She was a beautiful woman,  Melissa just like you. You're becoming such a young lady, a woman perhaps," he said as his hand cupped her cheek.

"The men will come to call for you soon, they'll want to court you, take you as a wife. They're going to come with the intention to take you away from me just like this pirate gypsy took your sister away from me. I can't allow them to take you from me. You're the only thing I have left in my life," he said his thumb stroking her cheek, discomfort set in as Melissa looked him in his lust filled eyes.

She tried to cover herself with the covers, she wanted to run away but she knew the consequences of running from her father.

He pulled the covers away from her body.

"Don't hide yourself from me, Melissa," he said gruffly.

"I'm not going to allow any man take you away from me do you understand? I can barely live without your mother, I can barely live without your sister but I am not willing to live without you," he said.

"You have your mother's eyes, bearing the same innocence as hers the night I took her as my wife. You're the spitting image of your mother, sometimes looking at you hurts me, I can't even bear the sight of you at times because you remind me so much of her. Her lips were as full as yours, soft, kissable," he said leaning toward her, pressing his lips to hers she tried to push him away as he kissed her but he captured her hands and held them down as he forced his tongue into her mouth, kissing her softly, not the way she envisioned her first kiss and especially not with her drunk father.

One hand held her hands still as the other hand slid up her leg and under her night rail. She tried to fight but he was too strong; he was 250 at best compared to her 100 pounds. It all felt wrong, it was wrong she knew it.

Tears burned her eyes as he kissed her, the tears flowing from her eyes as he tore her night rail away exposing her nude body.

His hand inappropriately touching her in places she had never been touched before, touching her in a way her father shouldn't have been touching his daughter.

She wanted it to be over but it was just the beginning. He took advantage of her that night.

Shortly after tearing away her night rail he removed his breeches, made her do things she had never done before, making her put her mouth on things she had never thought of and made her touch him in a way that was sinful and wrong.

She cried as he covered her body with his. The smell of rum on his breath, the taste of it in her mouth as he forced her to drink rum to relax her as he took advantage of her, taking away her innocence, tearing her slowly as he raped her, she cried sobs as he moved inside of her, her virginal blood seeping between the two of them as he roughly assaulted his daughter, she cried and pleaded with him.

"NO, Papa, please Papa stop, no papa," she cried out.

"NO PAPA," she yelled out in her sleep, her arms flailing and fighting the air as she was trapped in her nightmare.

"Stop Papa, you're hurting me, stop," she cried, her breath caught in her throat, her airways restricted as he choked her in her sleep as he covered her mouth to stop the cries.

The look in his dark eyes as he moved inside of her, she felt the tearing and the burning down deep inside of her.

Roman startled awake by her gasps for air.

"Melissa," he said gently shaking her, trying to get her to catch her breath.

"Melissa, it's a nightmare wake up, wake up," he said again as he shook her.

Melissa's blue eyes popped open, she was gasping for air as she sat up in their bed.

"It's okay," he said softly as he went to comfort her by wrapping her up in his arms.

"No," she said pushing him away and covering her naked body with the covers of their bed, hiding herself from her husband, ashamed of herself.

Visibly shaking she held the sheets between clenched fists as she turned away from Roman.

"I'm sorry," he said softly.

"You must have had some bad nightmare. I'm not going to hurt you, I promise. I will never hurt you," he said sincerely.

"Come here, Melissa you're shaking. Let me hold you," he pleaded.

"Ro-Roman," she stuttered.

"I-I can't." She continued to shake as she looked at her husband her eyes filled with shame.

"Come on, Melissa, I won't hurt you," he pleaded trying to talk her into allowing him to comfort her.

She had comforted him after a bad nightmare he wanted to do the same for her.

"You don't have to talk about it. Just let me hold you to calm you down," he said.

"Melissa," he said her name like a plea on his lips, she removed the covers and crawled to her husband.

He wrapped her shaking body up in his arms as she broke down into sobs on his shoulder, covering his flesh with her tears.

Neither spoke a word, he held her till she stopped shaking, until she was done crying, her body cold as he offered to drawl her a warm bath knowing whatever she dreamed she wanted to be cleaned of it.

Melissa agreed to a bath and Roman slid out of the bed to get the water to fill the tub up so his wife could relax and wash away the pain and fear from her nightmare. He had never seen her so shaken before, seen her so weak and vulnerable, whatever she dreamed shook her to the core she was scared of her papa he learned that from her cries but he didn't realize just how badly things had been with him.

"Melissa," he called for her from the bathroom, "your bath is ready," he said.

Melissa made her way into the bathroom, her body wrapped in the sheet from their bed, her blonde hair pulled up into a high bun.

She dropped the sheet exposing her nude body, covered in scars from her past. Roman took her hand and helped her into the tub. She sank down into the warmth of the water, allowing it to wash away the dirtiness she felt from her dream, the smell of her father she believed was on her from the nightmare.

She laid her head back on the metal of the tub as Roman stuck his hands in the water to get the sponge to clean her body for her.

"Talk to me," she said softly.

"Help me forget."

"What do you want me to talk about?" he asked softly as he began to wash her with the warm water.

"Anything," she said,

"my courses never came," she said softly making him smile.

It had been almost two weeks since they landed in Jamaica and it had been two weeks passed since she didn't start her courses, Roman was very aware of the situation. He knew her body almost as well as she had.

She closed her eyes as he washed her.

"I realize," he said with a soft smile.

"Your breasts are larger, plumper, fuller," he said washing her breasts.

"And tender," she winced in pain.

"You're with child," he said with a joy in his voice he never spoke with before.

"Possibly," she said,

"that would depend on what the doctor believes."

"Doctor?" he asked.

"Yes, the doctor is coming to visit me later today," she said.

"He's going to do an examination I have not been feeling up to my best," she kept her eyes closed as the warm water ran down her body.

"Are you worried I might be with child?"

"Never," he said softly but full of hope.

He had never pictured his life with a wife and a child but it was something he wanted recently. He knew after all their efforts on their voyage to Jamaica it was a possibility the chances were higher than ever that their efforts resulted in a child.

He couldn't complain, he wasn't afraid just anxious on how becoming a father would change him. Would it make him change his ways, change his lifestyle, make him settle down once and for all or would he continue his trade and his life as a pirate?

He didn't know what he would do until a child came into the world.

"Are you?"

"No," she said with a smile.

"A child is a blessing. I think you'll make a great father," she said.

"I don't know about that," he said with doubt in his voice.

"I don't know how to be a father."

"I don't know how to be a mother," she said,

"we'll learn together."

"Sounds like a plan," he said with a smile in his voice. His wife was beautiful.

He felt guilt that he married her for all the wrong reasons. He didn't love her the moment he took her as a wife, he just saw her as a woman to bear their children. He had no feelings for her but slowly over time he found himself caring about her, worrying about her, needing to be with her and wanting her and maybe even loving her.

He didn't know what love felt like because he had never felt love before but if that's what it was all about he was certain he was in love with her.

He felt lucky to have her in his life. They balanced each other out. Their past pain bringing them closer together every time one had a nightmare the other was there to comfort them knowing the physical and emotional toll the nightmare took on them.

"Let me wash your back," he suggested.

She sat up opening her eyes and exposed her back to him. He dripped water onto her back, watching it roll down the scars on her back. He wanted to touch them, let her know that the past didn't matter anymore and she was perfect in his eyes but he chose not to touch her scars.

"How do you like Jamaica?"

"It's a beautiful place. I like it a lot. I'm enjoying the time with my husband," she said making him smile.

"Even if I am a beast?" he asked.

"You're nowhere being a beast," she said softly with a smile,

"look at you now. I am sure you never thought you would be washing your wife's back, making her forget about the pain of her past. I'm sure you never thought of this life?" she asked.

"Not exactly," he said,

"I came close to this life before but it wasn't meant to be."

"I understand," she said softly.

"Roman."

"Yes?" he asked as he washed her back.

"I love you," she said softly.

The words hit him hard, he shuttered at her affection, scared of those three words, he had never been told before. He had no idea how to respond, how to react.

"It's all right, you don't have to say them back." She heard his breath release that he held.

"I just want you to know."

"Thank-you," he said not knowing what else to say.

"What activities do you enjoy?" she asked to kill the awkward silence between them.

"Other than fucking my wife?" he asked with an amusing smile making her smile.

"Other than that."

"I like to travel, being in my line of work I have had the opportunity to do so. I enjoy being out on the open seas but I enjoy reading from time to time," he said,

"and I like to hear music."

"I never learned to read," she said with embarrassment in her voice.

"My papa told me I didn't need to know how to read, it is not for a woman to read it gives them ideas."

"I can teach you to read if you'd like me too," he said softly.

"I'd like that very much, Roman. I want to be part of your trade and help you with your trade will you allow me?"

"You're my wife," he said,

"if you wish to help and be a part of my trade I can show you the basics and have you help from time to time but most women don't get involved in a pirate's trade, most pirate men leave their wives and children behind. You can run the pub if you wish."

"I'm not like most women," she said.

"No, Melissa, you're not," he said with a smile.

"You're my wife something no other woman could ever be. One of the people I trust most in my life."

"Even more than Adelina?" she asked making him inhale a deep breath, since Adelina and Melissa had met they did not favor the other.

The room was filled with tension when they were together. Melissa didn't like Adelina and Adelina was jealous and envious of Melissa. Things were far from pleasant between the two of them.

"Even more than Adelina," he said,

"you're my wife, Melissa. There are things I would tell you that I would never tell anyone else."

"Like what haunts your nightmares?" she asked.

"Yes," he said softly.

"Is that what you want to hear?"

"I want to know why your dreams are so painful, yes."

"Same goes for me. I want to know what is in your dreams. If you want to talk, Melissa, I'm ready to talk," he said with hope. He was ready to tell her things he had never told anyone in his life. He felt comfortable telling her.

"I'm ready to talk," she said softly and for the first time she too was ready to talk about her painful past and everything she had been through, the horrors that haunted her dreams late at night.

"Then let's talk," he said as he helped her out of the tub, wrapping a towel around her perfect body.