Look guys, I'm not dead! Sorry about the lack of updates, but I forgot to tell you I was going on vacation for a week.

I felt restless the entire trip to Charleston. In between naps that I took just to pass the time, I felt uneasy. Knowing every long drawn out mile was bringing me closer and closer to facing Skittery made me so nervous I though I would puke, to put it ever so lightly and lady-like. I was starting to write Cornelia when the Captain craned his neck towards the paper which I promptly hid from his sight.

"Can I help you?" I asked.

"What was that Mary?"

"Why does it matter?"

"Mary." He said letting me know he wasn't in the mood to deal with me being 'childish' as he would have put it.

I huffed feeling agitated. "If you must know, it's a letter."

"To who?"

"A friend." I said using a tone that clearly expressed that I was no longer answering any more questions on the subject. The Captain didn't say anything else but he was as irritated as I was. My nerves made me more prone to jump down anyone's throat and he was losing patience with my nastiness.

Pulling out the piece of paper I'd been writing on, I read what I wrote shielding my letter from my father with my arm.

"Dear Cornelia,

It may have been curiosity that killed the cat, but imagination broke the heart and destroyed sanity. I keep imagining Skittery taking me back, but I just make myself believe it will happen. You can't begin to imagine how many scenarios have run through my head concerning Skittery. I am traveling back to New York and I've decided I have to face him. As horrifying as it is, I really need to do it. I've been gearing myself up for rejection, but when I start to concentrate on it my mind wanders to him forgiving me. I pray he does.

Whether he does or does not, I will be leaving New York shortly after. I don't know where, hopefully somewhere far away. If he forgives me it will break my heart all over again to leave, but if he does not at least I won't ever see him again."

I pulled the cap off of my pen and added more to my letter.

"I don't know how much longer I'll be able to wait to see him. I fear I'll lose my mind if it's much longer. I suppose there isn't much more to say.

Sincerely,

Mary Shay"

I enveloped the letter and stashed it in my bag to send from Charleston.

Once we arrived I spent the two days we waited there for a train to New York in our small hotel room. I went to bed and slept in, spending the rest of the time reading, unsuccessfully trying to direct my thoughts away from Skittery.

We left Charleston on a Friday and arrived in New York on a Sunday. The Captain promptly checked in to a hotel room where we would stay for one night before Leo and Jason got to New York with the ship. I decided I would go to the Lodging House on Thursday.

The Captain and I were on better terms but I still snapped at him here and there. He kept telling me how different the ship was going to be. Leo had sent him the blueprints. "I would have shown them to you, but I seemed to have temporarily displaced them..." He would say when I asked about it.

Monday morning cheered me up and distracted me from the looming terror of Thursday. I was sitting around the docks with the Captain when a beautiful ship pulled into the harbor.

"Woo-wee." I said. "That ain't no fishing boat."

"'Course it's not a fishing boat; it's our boat." He said with a laugh.

"What?" I asked. When the Captain didn't answer I took my eyes of the boat and saw he'd gotten up and started walking towards it. Scrambling to my feet, I got up and jogged to get next to him. "Is it really ours?"

"Yes ma'am!" I heard Leo call from on-board. I smiled and ran up the plank they'd already lowered. I ran up to Leo and hugged him. "I missed ya, kid." He said.

"Missed you too." I said still smiling.

I saw Jason working on tying up the ship from the docks. Coming back down the ramp, I sneaked up behind him.

"Boo." I stated plainly.

Turning around, he lifted an eyebrow before realizing it was me and catching me in another big hug.

Releasing me from a muscular grasp "Heya Mare."

"Hey." I smiled.

"How ya been?"

"Ha." I exhaled with a playful tone. "A little bit of everything. You?"

"Pretty good."

"Hey." I said, a sudden revelation hitting me. "You're really tall."

He laughed and shrugged. "You're really observant."

"Hey!" The Captain called from the ship deck. "Mary, you're gonna want to see this!" I came on-board.

"See what?"

"Your room."

"I have my own room?"

"Well," Jason chirped in. "Since we're gonna be using this ship all the time now, you needed it."

"Oh my goodness, that was so nice." I said, truly thankful. I'd always slept in hammocks in the kitchen away from the crew. "Thank you, thank you, thank you!"

"You wanna see it?"

I nodded eagerly and Jason led the way down the stairs to my room. Upon entering I gasped. It was painted the same shade of light yellow as the room in Georgia and had a large bed with a champagne colored covering. The other furniture consisted of a dresser, a bedside table, a large free standing mirror and a stocked bookshelf all made of the same matching wood on the bed frame. A chaise lounge with the same fabric as the bed's fluffy comforter and wooden framing was immediately my favorite piece.

"I love it! Thank you!" I cried out, flopping down on the lounge.

"Sure thing." Leo said, smiling at my excitement.

"You two can spend the day settling in." The Captain told Jason and I. "Leo and I are going to find some work."

Whaddya think? Kind of a boring chapter, but whatever. The next one is going to amazing pretty much. Haha, I'm very self assured.

Reviews, as always, are very appreciated.