Pansyphoenix: Oh don't worry, I will update. I might not update as often as I might like (or you might like) but I have the bane of my existence…school. And yay for getting people hooked!
Fab: Oh, next chapter is coming!
Ben
He held his arms out for her. She ran into his arms. "Lissie," Ben murmured. "Oh, Lissie, Lissie, Lissie. I have missed you so." But Felicity stepped away from his arms, looking cross.
"Well, you might've had the decency to write Benjamin Davidson-Polly, don't touch that. Father's calling for you, can't you hear him?-and I've been worried sick these last six months. I've been having sleepless nights, I couldn't eat-and I thought you were dead!" Felicity hollered.
"Felicity—"
"If you had written one letter, just one, I'd know you were alright. But oh, no, you were too busy having fun with your friends you made with the militia, and didn't care about the friends you left behind here!" Felicity stopped, breathing hard. I am in deep trouble with her, Ben thought grimly.
"Felicity, please," Ben begged. "Just give me one minute to explain what happened in those six months. I'm sure I could do it." Felicity frowned.
"Fine," she said. "But you must hurry, Benjamin. My patience doesn't last forever."
She called me Benjamin. That certainly stings, Ben thought, before launching into his story. "After it was over, we simply could not believe it. Some of us started making our way home, but others stayed, in order to celebrate. We had finally become a country. I had wanted to leave, but some of the men insisted I stay, and I did so, albeit reluctantly."
"Keep going," Felicity said.
"Then, after much insistence on my part, I was finally able to leave, and began to make my way back to Williamsburg. I could not get a horse, so I had to walk. However, on my way, my mother spotted me. And she kept me in her home for the remaining six months."
"Highly doubtable," Felicity said.
"She hadn't seen her last child for almost seven years, Felicity." Felicity softened a little bit. Good, he had finally gotten through.
"Out of all the children in your family-you were the only one to survive?" she asked softly. Ben bobbed his head once.
"My older brother, Thomas, died of yellow fever when I was only a babe, then my oldest sister, Martha, succumbed to scarlet fever. Then, Anne died of smallpox, and the twins, Bertha and Samuel died of consumption and whooping cough, respectively. My father is dead, also. He was killed in the French and Indian war." Ben said all of this so calmly, but his lower lip wobbled. He hated being reminded of the fact that it was only him, and his mother (and some cousins) that were still alive. It made him feel weak. It also was a cruel twist of fate, in his opinion-the older ones all dying of some disease, and the baby being the only one to survive.
He was going to say something to Felicity, but Polly ran out of the back room, carrying a doll. "Oh, Lissie, isn't it wonderful? Father says I can keep it. Isn't she pretty?" Felicity was now too distracted with her little sister to pay any attention to him. Ben sighed. He would have to give Felicity his gift quick-before some other lad stole it from him.
A/N: Yeah, I know this chapter is short and not very good, and I have so many historical inaccuracies it's not even funny—but it's about midnight here, and I need to get up early tomorrow. Reviews are love.