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“Are you having one of your womanly moments?”
“I’m a horrible wife.”
“Wife?” I’d seen Katherine upset before, but this was some kind of madness. I pushed the bottle of rum towards her, urging her to drink.
“Us… we keep fighting, and then that bitch, Tiger Lily, I don’t like her. And the stupid poisoned mead…” she rambled as the tears continued to fall.
“Katherine, what happened today? Do I need to kill someone?”
“That’s exactly the problem, James, I couldn’t even kill him when I had the chance.”
She had gone off the deep end. Between the sobbing and mad rambling, I was beginning to fear the worst. Fits of hysteria weren’t uncommon among women her age. Either that, or she’d been poisoned. Something was very wrong.
“Kill who, Katherine? Who were you trying to kill?”
She dropped her head, wringing her wrists and staring at the ground. “Peter.”
“I’m sorry, did you say Peter?” I must have misheard. I lifted her chin, catching her gaze. “Did you run into Peter fucking Pan today?” Anger crept up like a dark grey mist rolling in, obscuring a calm sea beneath it.
“I… I… James, your eyes. They just flashed red.”
“Never mind my eyes,” I said, dismissing her delusions. I wasn’t about to let her change the subject. “Did you see Peter today?”
“I thought if I could just finish him, once and for all, we could be happy. Just the two of us. I brought my pistol. He was sound asleep. It should have been easy. But I couldn’t, James, I couldn’t pull the trigger.” Her eyes welled up again.
“Why don’t you tell me exactly what happened today?” I tried to conceal my anger. If I wanted answers, I was going to have to stay calm.
“I took Meadow in search of Peter. Like I said, I just wanted it all to end. We found him sleeping in the grotto. I had the perfect opportunity. He would have been none the wiser,” she shook her head, “I froze. I couldn’t kill a sleeping babe.” More sobbing interrupted her story. “I can’t even fulfill my own destiny.”
“It’s not your destiny to fulfill, Katherine. I don’t need you to fight my battles,” I sighed. “What happened next?”
“My crying roused him. He remembered me, James. He thought I was your mother.”
This made me laugh. “My mother?”
“Yes,” she huffed. “I told him I was your wife.”
“My wife?” I had never really considered marriage before. Katherine referring to herself as my wife, even though we lived as such without the title, felt somehow foreign.
“I didn’t know how else to put it. I wasn’t about to teach the boy how relationships work.”
“He’s hundreds of years old, Kat.”
“Well, he looks like a child. It’s unsettling.” She paused, rubbing her heart. “He asked me to be his mother. To tell them stories and sing to them. James, I know what it’s like to lose your mom. To crave that unconditional love.”
“Pish,” I dismissed her comments. Peter didn’t deserve her empathy. “Nothing has changed. He’s been looking for a ‘mother’ since the day we met.” I often wondered why he was forever searching for a mother when he chose to leave his actual mum for Neverland.
“I was able to—” A loud knock at the door startled Katherine.
“Yes, what is it?”
“Captain, forgive my interruption.” Smee smiled as he entered the cabin. “The gnomes have delivered a package for you.”
“Ah, yes. Please, bring it here. I’ve been expecting its arrival. Thank you, Smee. You may show yourself out.”
“Aye, Captain.”
“Perfect timing. I commissioned a gift for you.” I offered Kat the box, a smile spread across her tear-soaked face.
