A/N: Thank you to TorontoBatFan, lexette27, Romeo's Goil, Jynx6, Ruth-Skyfall and especially to dionne dance (who gave me the idea, whether they know it or not ;)) for the reviews and also to Ani-Obi-Skywalker-Kenobi1985 for following.
Next chapter, I'm going to skip 10 years because I'm finding it hard to write about a baby when I don't have any experience with one!
Over the next few days, Angelique was very wary of Elizabeth, just in case Barnabas had gone and said something. Elizabeth hasn't said anything or given her any funny looks so far, so it seemed he had kept to his word, but Angelique was still a little worried.
"New dress?" Elizabeth asked one evening at dinner, in an attempt to get Angelique to say something.
"Yes, I bought it the other day in town. I thought I needed something suitable for housework."
"Well, it's a good choice. It suits you."
"Thank you," Angelique murmured and went back to eating.
"What's wrong? We haven't done anything to upset you, have we?" Elizabeth asked after the next awkward silence.
"No, no, not at all. I think I'm just a little tired, that's all, Clarisse has had a few restless nights recently," Angelique lied, saying the first thing that came into her head.
"Oh, alright. I'm sure it will pass," Elizabeth said, and went back to her meal.
The rest of the dinner passed in silence. David said nothing at all and Angelique just pushed the food around her plate.
"I'm sorry, but will you please excuse me," Angelique said, and stood up. She couldn't stand it anymore. Picking up Clarisse, she swiftly left the room, leaving Elizabeth and David to finish their meal in silence.
"What am I going to do, Clarisse? If I don't stop acting off, then Elizabeth is going to get even more suspicious. I can't blame you forever, but I can't help but wonder if Barnabas actually said anything. After what I did to his family, he might have lied to me," Angelique told Clarisse, shutting the door of their room after climbing up the stairs from the dining room.
"I haven't told anyone, Angelique. You can trust me on that," Barnabas' voice said, as he walked out of the shadows. Angelique jumped out her skin, nearly dropping Clarisse.
"Don't do that, Barnabas! I nearly dropped my daughter," Angelique scolded. "What are you even doing here? This is my room."
"Don't you mean our daughter, Angelique? That's why I'm here–"
"You're not taking Clarisse away from me!" Angelique clutched the little girl close to her chest, panicking. He couldn't do that to her. The little girl was her most precious thing in the world. She couldn't lose her!
"I wasn't going to say that," Barnabas said calmly, but Angelique didn't relax completely. "If you'll let me finish, I was going to ask that, in the day, when you're working, I get to look after her. I want to get to know her, and a daughter should be able to know her father, don't you agree?"
"Won't everyone be suspicious that you are looking after a baby? You haven't even supposedly met me, so how can you explain looking after my baby?" She wasn't sure if she liked this idea very much.
"We'll say I met you in the corridor, and you mentioned about Clarisse being a handful for Elizabeth while she's trying to handle business and I offered for me and Vicky to look after her."
"How did you know about that? Anyway, I'm not sure, you don't know much about–"
"Vicky will help, she knows a lot, and if need be, I can find you or Elizabeth." Angelique noted he failed to answer her first question.
"I'm still not sure…"
"I don't think you're in any position to not agree, Angelique, I could accidently slip out about your secret…"
"No, you can't!" Angelique cried.
"Well agree then."
"Fine, but you can't say anything, please, Barnabas."
"Of course, and when you leave here and have your own house, I can say I'm heading into town, or I got attached to her when I was looking after her and come and visit."
"Yes, alright, we'll see if it works…" Angelique trailed off and looked into Barnabas' eyes. There was one thing she wanted to know. "What do you see in Vicky that you don't with me?" she whispered. Barnabas looked shocked.
"Don't push your luck, Angelique," he snapped suddenly. "But, just so you know, she didn't curse my family, or kill my girlfriends. I can trust her."
With that, he walked out, leaving Angelique staring after him sadly.
"Oh well, Clarisse, I've well and truly lost him now. But, I guess it will be good for you to be able to grow up with a father, I didn't expect him to be so… accepting of you. I suppose he is very much a family man though." She looked down at Clarisse, who was squirming happily in her arms. "You're so lucky, not having a care in the world, you know, sweetheart."
She bent her head down to rub noses with Clarisse, smiling when her daughter giggled in delight. She wished she could keep Clarisse like this forever. She was the only person who would listen to her, even if she didn't understand what it actually meant.