Elizabeth Turner lay next to her daughter, a cool night breeze coming in through the window. She turned and gazed at her small daughter's features. She had dark brown curls that framed her small face, and beautiful brown eyes, though they were closed at the moment. The little girl was fast asleep, yet her mother lay tossing and turning the whole night. Elizabeth brushed her daughter's curls from her face, letting the brown ringlets slip off her fingers as she pulled them away. Elizabeth kissed her daughter's forehead and proceeded to slide off the bed. She pulled the blankets up around the little frame that was her daughter.

Willa was proving to be much like her father, kind and soft, with eyes that exuded honesty. Unlike her mother, she was never one to be a troublemaker, she had Will's calm demeanor. Will, Elizabeth couldn't help but sigh at the name. It had been five years since she had last seen him, the only things to prove of his existence were his heart and the little girl that lay fast asleep in bed. The heart lay hidden in a trick door in the closet in Elizabeth's room. Occasionally, when she couldn't sleep, she would take it out to hear the rhythmic beating of his heart and it would lull her to bed.

Elizabeth hadn't been sleeping very well lately, and yet the heart lay hidden in the closet. Elizabeth couldn't bring herself to listen to it anymore because it only made her heart ache. She wasn't sleeping because of the heart, or rather, she was suffering because of the person to whom the heart belonged. She had given her heart to will, hypothetically of course, and he had given his to hers, literally. Why was it then that Elizabeth was falling for another man?

In the beginning it was just simply a new friend. He was a kind man who had helped her find a place to live while she was pregnant and it just snowballed from there on out. His name was Matthew Smith, and he was an ex naval officer. He had come from higher society, yet he felt it never suited him so he had joined the navy for the adventure and when his questing was done he had enough money to quit when he wanted. He cared for Elizabeth while she was pregnant and after Willa was born, she would invite him over for the occasional supper, and soon his visits became regular and frequent. Once she got older, Willa had even taken to calling him Father Matthew. Elizabeth soon began to spend more and more time alone with Matthew, and before she knew it he had proposed.

And there lay Elizabeth's predicament. She didn't know whether to wait for Will as she had promised and sacrifice a life that her daughter and herself both desperately needed, or abandon a promise to the man whom she had loved and kept his heart for such a long time. She sighed once more as she looked out the window sill toward the vast and shimmering ocean. Will was out there, ferrying souls to the next world. Internally, Elizabeth was proud of her husband and she was sure that he was the greatest captain that the Dutchmen would ever have. Elizabeth was startled out of her reverie when she heard a sleepy little "Mummy?" from behind her.

"What is it darling?" Elizabeth asked as she picked up the sleepy little girl and placed her on her lap.

"Mummy, are you looking for father?" The little girl asked as she turned her large brown eyes onto her mother.

"Why would you ask that?

"Well, you told me that father lives on the ocean and your looking at the ocean, so you must be looking for father." The little girl said as she snuggled in closer to her mothers embrace. Elizabeth glanced down at her four year old daughter and stared in wonder at the child's ability to make such an observant connection.

"I was just looking at the ocean, but I was keeping an eye out for your father also."

"Mummy, will father like me?" The little girl asked her with honest curiosity filling her eyes.

"Darling, your father will love you more than you could ever imagine. Your a lot like him, your both kind, loving, and sweet." She said as she kissed her daughter softly on the top of the head. Elizabeth waited to hear a response from the little girl when she heard soft snores coming from the child. She looked out the window as she held her daughter close, watching the ocean as it moved quietly illuminated by the moonlight. Elizabeth wished Will was there to help her, to make her decision easier, and to be there for their daughter. Elizabeth dozed off with her daughter on her lap, her back resting against the wood near the window sill, as she faced the moonlit sea.