It was good to hear someone speak about Pops again. Especially in tones like that. She didn't know him as well as Thatch did. She couldn't. But she knew him well enough to matter and that was the only thing that was important.


"Aye, he is-- was--" He winced a little, taking a sip of rum. "Ace was his favorite, you know. Other than Marco." But Ace was everyone's favorite. Everyone loved him. Even Marshall had liked him enough to give his position over and that was saying something since he'd been a pretty shrewd guy.

"Some days I wish I could have been a better son..." But that was neither here nor there. "But can't change the past. Can only go forward into the future, right?" Painful as that was at times.