I stood watching from the side as Marlena stood beside Rosie at the end of their act, scratching behind her ear as she took candy from children. Rosie, not Marlena.

A gentleman who quite clearly wasn't interested in the female elephant stepped forwards. Marlena eyes flashed in warning to mine, but she was half a second to late, I was already straightening up.

Across the tent Robert and Starkey watched my advance towards the man who was slurring at my wife, trying to touch her in ways that made me very nearly see red.

"Come on baby..." He slurred and his hand hovered over her shoulder as my own hand came tight down on his wrist. My grip was like Iron and he looked up into my murderous expression, his comprehension marred by alcohol it seemed.

Marlena gasped quietly as my grip tightened and she whispered my name in quiet warning. It was lucky no one of the crowd had noticed what was growing on; Robert was keeping them focused on the elephant as Starkey took a step closer behind me.

"Come on son it was a joke." The dunk man in my grip chuckled and looked back at Marlena who looked pale, "Right daring?"

I pulled his wrist with a sharp movement so he was facing me, "Do you see me laughing?"

"Jacob." Starkey's voice was unmistakable with warning behind me, "Let James and his boys take care of it, come on shows over."

I swallowed and straightened up dropping the man's arm and turning back to Marlena, but on the rotation I saw my face in Rosie's water bucket, and the darkness in my eyes was only like one persons I had ever seen.

For a flash of a second, although I knew it was only in my brain for only me to see. For the briefest of flashes my face became Augusts, our eyes identical, the love for the same woman in both our face.

I let out a small noise that was somewhere between a growl and a sob, and turned to stride form the tent, well aware that Marlena was shouting and probably running after me.

Whether I was moving that quickly or whether it was her slippers over the hard ground that stopped her from catching up with me, I reached my destination before she did.

I grabbed hold of the nearest thing I found, which was a pile of big top pegs, and hurled them repeatedly against the side of car Forty Eight, our car.

"Jacob, Jacob stop." Marlena said and rushed over to me, stopping my stream of profanities and wrapping her arms around my shoulders.

I stopped struggling, not wanting to hurt her. But as her skin touched mine, the fire in me died, and I all but drowned in self pity, sadness and fright.

I sunk to the floor, putting my head in my hands, trying so hard not to cry.

"I don't want to be like him." I whispered quietly.

She stroked the back of my head and cupped my other cheek, pulling it around so I had to look at her.

"Listen to me Jacob." She said firmly.

"No Marlena..." I tried to cut her off, knowing what she was going to say.

"No Jacob listen to me, Listen to me." She shouted when I shook my head and forced me to look at her. She swallowed and kissed my temple before resting her forehead against my own.

"Your nothing like him, okay you're not." She said.
I shook my head, "But what happened in there... with the man."

She hushed me, "August could have killed him without blinking if he'd done it when he was alive."

"I wanted to." My voice was so quiet I could barely hear myself.

"And I want to kill you every time you fuss over me, and I want to kill Starkey more times than I can count but we don't, we don't do it Jacob because we know it's wrong." She stressed.

She stroked my cheeks, "The difference between you and August is one that will never change. August had no idea who he was or what was right or wrong and that was what made him dangerous." She swallowed and looked at me in a sad yet firm expression.

"You know who you are Jacob." She whispered and smiled slightly, "I know who you are."

I swallowed, "And who am I?"

"You're the man I fell in love with, the man I will always love, the best man I'll ever know... you're the father to my child, hopefully children, and you're the only person to take care of me in a long time. I trust you more than anyone Jacob, and I love you." She whispered and kissed me gently.

I wanted to say a heroic speech back, to tell her that she had it all backwards, that it was her who was the best woman I would ever know, but I couldn't find my voice or get my brain to function.

I wrapped my arms around her and held her to my chest, feeling her warm breath against my neck.

"I love you to." I whispered.

I felt her smile against my chest, "Don't ever think you're like him, because you're not." She whispered.

"Okay." I whispered after a moment of pause.

She sat up and touched my cheek, "Let's go inside, I'm beat tired."

I stood and held her hand gently as she stood up, dusting off her clothes, resting her hands thoughtfully on her stomach as she looked down at it. I placed one of my hands over hers and rested the other on the small of her back as I kissed her temple.

"I haven't fussed over you properly today, you reminded me." I breathed and she sighed but smiled one the less.

"We don't want Jacob Junior inheriting your worry gene." She laughed and hooked her arm through mine as we walked towards our car.

I chuckled, "I told you you'd grow used to it."

She beamed and I glanced down at her, she was the most perfect thing in my life, and the best part of it was.

She was mine.