Read Legend of the Gypsy Queen Skull: The Devil's Triangle - Book 1 for Free Online Page A

replied, unscrewing the cap on
the bottle.
    Holding his hand over the sink, he squeezed
his eyes shut.
    “Knock yourself out,” he mumbled, turning
his head away.
    “Love ya hun,” she said, stomping down on
his foot as she poured the searing whiskey over his hand.
    Dropping down to a knee, he squealed, “Make
the bad lady stop!” as Manny caught him under his armpits.
    “And today’s lesson was?” Margie asked as
she looked down at him, still holding onto his wrist.
    “Don’t pet puffy-tailed kitties,” he
gasped.
    “Good boy. Now go sit down…. Waffles
ready!”
    ~*~
    When everyone was seated, the family all
bowed their heads and held hands as Paul led them in a breakfast
prayer.
    “Lord, we are truly thankful for all of the
wonderful gifts you have given us in our lives. Our beautiful
children... My trophy wife.”
    Bashfully grinning, Margie affectionately
squeezed his hand.
    “Our vicious black cat,” he continued as
Tinnie bit her lip and kicked his chair.
    “These awesome waffles, and our trip to the
Bahamas.”
    “Amen,” they all replied, except for Margie,
whose eyes popped wide open. Holding Paul’s hand in something of a
death grip, she stared at him but he avoided any eye contact with
her. Instead, under the table he wrestled his hand away from her,
all the while fronting a forced smile.
    “When do we leave, Dad?” Manny eagerly
asked.
    “It’d better not interfere with my Kung Fu
test,” Tinnie sharply added.
    “Boats and ho’s,” Heinz said with an
ear-to-ear grin as he methodically nodded his head. Dropping her
jaw wide open, Tinnie flip-smacked him with the back of her
fingers. Giggling, he was amused at how easily he could antagonize
her and then took a bite of his waffle.
    Margie, now glaring at Paul said, “Honey,
didn’t we talk about this? No extra expenses since we both got a
p-a-y-c-u-t.” When Margie was upset she tended to spell.
    “Mom, we know how to spell,” Tinnie was
quick to remind her.
    “You got docked at work?” Heinz blurted
out.
    “We’re fine,” Margie replied. “We just need
to stick to a budget,” she said, glaring at Paul again.
    ~*~
    After breakfast, Paul and Margie were
standing side-by-side, doing the dishes in the sink, when she
handed him another plate to dry and asked, “When were you going to
tell me?”
    “I didn’t want to say anything until I had
done some more research.”
    “And what exactly does research have to do
with the Bahamas?” she asked, getting a little impatient.
    “Let’s just talk about this later.”
    “When later? … Exactly?”
    “After I get back from the library,” he
responded.
    Turning to her, he placed a hand on the side
of her shoulder and reassuringly added, “I promise we’ll talk about
it.”
    Just around the corner, in the dining room,
Heinz stood nodding his head. Turning around, he pushed his
black-framed glasses up on his nose and grinned.
    Sounds like the old man has something up his
sleeve… and I’m gonna find out what it is.

Chapter 6 -
Pirate Battle
    Summer, 1689 ~ Lexington Warship ~ Barbary
Coast Waters

    On the Lexington’s main deck, Captain Darcy
was checking his nautical map when a lookout excitedly shouted down
from the crow’s nest and pointed out to sea.
    “Captain! Five o’clock… three vessels on the
horizon!”
    Darcy reaching into his weathered jacket
withdrew his spyglass. Flipping it with his wrist, he snapped the
telescopic brass tube, extending it to full length. Adjusting the
lens, his eye bore down on the trio of distant ships as they
gradually came into focus.
    “Triangular sails sir! Barbary corsairs!”
the young seaman shouted.
    “Aye,” Darcy acknowledged.
    Collapsing his telescope, he turned to his
second in command, Jonathan Fairfield.
    “Lieutenant, hard about.”
    Fairfield’s eyes widened as he grinned back
at his captain. Finally, they were in pursuit of some real Barbary
pirates.
    Fairfield nodded to his captain, then turned
and bellowed up to