Vanessa still had a strange knack for finding treasure. She’d be led sometimes by a gentle presence in the water—a blonde woman who had worked too hard in life, fallen in love with a pirate and been murdered for that love. Kitty Cutlass.

She had feared for Bartholomew that night. But he had joined her later in the confusion on the shore, and he had assured her that he was not going to the place that was now hosting Dona Isabella. He wouldn’t say more, just that he was destined for a better end, and that he was actually quite anxious to get back to Key West.

It wasn’t long before they had a break and spent time in the city. And it was at dinner at O’Hara’s where she saw that Bartholomew was really all right. He had been sitting with them idly at the bar, and then…

His Lucinda, his lady in white, came by, and he was gone, hurrying out to the street to meet her, where he held her tenderly in his arms, where their eyes met, and he kissed her.

“Very romantic!” she said, pleased.

Sean pulled her into his arms. “Let’s go home,” he said softly. “And I’ll show you romantic.”

She smiled, and slipped from the bar stool.

She turned into his arms. “I don’t need to think much at all anymore, Sean O’Hara. I know. I know that I love you.”

“I know…that I love you,” he said.

And they left the bar, and went home, and made good on their words to each other.