000

Jayne-

My belly had grown tremendously as I was now in my eighth month. There was a glow about me at this point that kept me in high spirits, even with the loneliness I felt about not having Lance with me. Besides, just eight more moons until I'd meet him at the church and all would be well again. The thought brought a smile to my face.

"What are you thinking about?" Drake asked me pulling me out of my thoughts and back to the small market we were walking around.

I've lived here for four months now and had to say I enjoy this village very much. The town was a part of neighboring country of Benbourgh called Highlands. Though they're lands touched geographically speaking, they shared nothing else. Slavery was against their laws and morals, and they cared more about taking care of their own people than conquering other lands. Benbourgh was so obsessed with expanding they neglected their people, resulting in depression and over all rudeness from the vast majority of the population. That wasn't the case here. These men and women were taken care of, therefore they loved one another.

"My future." I answered with a smile on my face.

He returned the smile, "And what pray tell is in that future?"

I ran my hand across my stomach, "A family."

He raised his eyebrows at me, "You have a family now."

I rolled my eyes at him, "Just because he's my father does not make him family."

He picked up a tomato from a stand, inspecting it "True…but he loves you…as does Mary and Helen. And I think you love them as well. Isn't that what a family is?"

"I suppose…" I answered shrugging.

Honestly, a part of me resented the three of them (Drake, Helen, and Mary) even though they have been nothing but kindness itself to me. My father was there for them when he wasn't there for me.

When he first got to this town after wandering he met Mary, an elderly lady with no family to help her and too much pride to take handouts from the other villagers. But she wasn't able to take care of herself anymore. There was no one to chop her wood to make a fire, no one to run errands and get food that was too heavy for her to carry, no one to live for. When my father came stumbling into town years ago he made a deal with her: he'd take care of the things she couldn't do and in return she'd give him a place to stay. Her pride could handle that so she agreed.

A few more years later he saved Helen and Drake from a life of abuse. You see when they're parents died Helen decided to marry a much older man for money. After all she was all of the sudden responsible for a little boy. The man she chose beat her and Drake for years before my father found out. I was never told the full story, but one I guess Helen's husband had an "accident" afterwards and died. That's when they moved into the cottage as well.

"We're just not the family you want." My head snapped up at this. I never meant to hurt his feelings. He laughed at my face, "It's alright. I understand. You want your prince. That's perfectly understandable. But I just want you to know, if he doesn't come for you, it's not the end of the world. You have a family here."

My face turned to anger then, "How dare you say that…as if he won't come here for me."

He shrugged it off, which annoyed me even further. What a pompous ass…he knew nothing of my relationship with Lance. "It's just men will tell a woman anything to bed her…promises of marriage is one of the most common lies."

"Oh…and do you know because you've told these lies yourself?" I answered crossing my arms across my chest.

He gave a cocky smile at that, "No. My winning personality and charming looks make women throw themselves at me without having to promise them anything." I rolled my eyes at him and he kissed me on the cheek, "Just wait, Jayne. You'll fall for me as well someday." The last part no longer sounded like a joke…

000

Lance-

"Here pound in that stake and I'll pound this one." Zeke answered as he came over to help me put up my tent after his. Normally I didn't need help, but I felt all out of sorts today.

"Are you feeling okay?" he asked after we finished and I leaned over, grimacing in pain.

I nodded my head, "I think so…I've just been having this weird pain in my stomach all day."

He walked over to me and helped me stand up, "Did you get hit in the stomach during the move."

I shook my head having a hard time finding my voice, "No, not that I recall." I sighed as the pain started disappearing. I stood up and looked at him, "It's the strangest thing. It's like something is tightening around my stomach and then after a couple minutes it's over, just to come back again in a few more minutes."

He held onto my shoulders and walked me over to the opening of the tent, "I'm getting you the physician."

I shook him off of me, "No I'm fine. "

He pulled me into the tent anyways and forced me to lie down on the cot. I didn't have much energy to bother protesting, "No I am getting the physician." Zeke replied, "You just lay here."

000

Jayne-

"I can't do it!" I yelled which was completely out of my character, "I can't, I can't…I've been pushing too long."

Mary grabbed my hand and forced me to look into my eyes, "Yes you can and you will." She said in a firm voice.

Helen and the two midwives of the town, Katherine and Janeen, were at the bottom of the bed coaxing me, "Sweetie, just one more push and the baby will be here." Helen replied.

So with I closed my eyes, and I gathered all the strength I had left and pushed. In just that moment I felt absolute relief and collapsed back on the bed, trying to catch my breath. I looked up to see Katherine holding up the most beautiful child in the world. I smiled and tears starting running down my cheek. They placed the child down on a small table that had linens on top of it, and began to clean out the baby's mouth, making the them cry.

Helen was smiling as well at the child. She turned to me, "She's beautiful, Jayne."

My smile grew wider, "She?" The midwives and her nodded.

I looked up at Mary who brushed my sweaty hair out of my face. "You did well, my dear."

After looking over the child, they pronounced her perfectly healthy. The midwives wrapped her in a light green blanket I had been working on for several months now. Finally they brought her over to me, putting her in my arms.

I grabbed a hold of her little hand, as her sobs slowed down and turned into hiccups. Her skin was lighter toned, not tan like mine, and the small fuzz of hair on top of her head reflected Lance's blonde. Her eyes were gray, like most newborns, but you could almost see specs of gold in them. She was perfect.

I looked up to all the women in the room smiling at me and I couldn't help but smile back. I was so proud of her already.

Mary broke the silence first, "What shall you name her?"

I looked back at my daughter and thought for a minute, "Lily. Her name is Lily."

000

Lance-

"And your sure that you haven't felt any of the pains since I last visited?" the physician asked. He had been here an hour ago to see why I was having the stomach pains, but couldn't figure it out so he decided to leave me alone and then check on me in an hour. By the time he came back they were completely gone.

"No, not a single one." I replied, "Do you have any idea of what it could be?"

He scratched his head, obviously trying to think of any answer, "Not a single one. Maybe it was just an odd stomach ache, caused by some of this old meat we have been serving."

I nodded, "Yes…that could be it." We both knew that probably wasn't the case, since none of the other men had problems. But since the pain had disappeared so no explanation was really necessary.

"Call me if anything else occurs." The physician said as he walked out of my tent.

I laid back down on the cot feeling an overwhelming since of exhaustion. I wonder what Jayne is doing…I thought briefly before I slipped into sleep.

A/N: Hopefully you enjoyed the chapter. Sorry it took me so long to get up. It's been a stressful few weeks. My daughter got a very bad case of the flu and ended up in the hospital, then there was Halloween, my youngest daughter has colic and she's been screaming nonstop, I'm trying to find a part time job, and my car broke down. Ugh. Let's hope my bad luck will end soon so I can focus more on my stories.