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The Madonna of the Carnation

 A/N: I wrote this long ago for a writing competition, but never turned it in due to me feeling it wasn't good enough.

Anne Bonny had been far and wide in the small span of her life. She and her husband had been to places the rich dream of seeing. Constantly traveling had it’s ups and downs. The beauty of the new world in person could not be done justice in the papers and drawings sent to Ireland. The new world was one undiscovered by man for many years and held endless adventure.

    Anne had woken up to the sound of metal clattering to the floor. A cup had fallen from the table in her quarters. The ship was creaking and groaning with the harsh waves of the Atlantic. They were heading for North Carolina after raiding merchant ships from France and Spain. With all the commotion and excitement of their recent winnings, Anne put on socks not bothering to put on boots. 

She made her way down below deck. She arrived where they stored all goods and riches from their pickings and started to sift through them. There was the  usual gold, jewelry, fine china, fine wines and food. However as she kept looking through the loot, a large frame caught her eye. A painting? Why would her crew gather something that had no value or use to the likes of them? The back of the painting had very small writing on it. Leonardo da Vinci 1468; La Madonna del Garofano (The Madonna of the Carnation).

Confused, Anne turned the portrait around and looked at the painting. It was a woman sitting down ,holding a child who was trying to grasp at the flower the woman held in her hand. Looking at the painting for a solid minute, Anne shook away her haze and put the portrait back in it’s place. Goosebumps, covered her skin and a cool breeze filled the empty deck. She decided to go back to her quarters and went back to sleep. As she slept, her dreams were filled with a baby, except she, was the one holding it and the baby looked like a mixture of her and her husband. She laughed as the baby giggled, suckling it’s thumb.