Chapter 02

1844, Mystic Falls, Virginia

In the last 3 years nothing out of the ordinary happened. Except for domestic violence in the Salvatore house.

Giuseppe was turning into a man Lillian almost did not recognize as her husband. He had hit her once or twice and had raised his voice against her more times than she could count. She was relieved he did not do this infront of their sons or did it to them. Although she was starting to question the man his sanity. Lillian wanted to talk with Marie about what had occurred in her house but she was afraid.

Guiseppe started to drink more and tried to control Lillian more and more. She could see the relationship between her husband and her oldest son Damon getting strained. Damon was a mischievous child, although he had his heart in the right place. She was getting worried how their relationship would progress over the years.

She was happy to see that Stefan had a better relationship with his father than his brother. She was also delighted to see that the two brother were close. They would have eachother if some thing would happen to her. Of course they would have Isabelle too.

Today Lillian and Marie would pick herbs and flowers in the forest, the children would come along. Lilly had missed some alone time with her friend. They could not go into the forest together a lot because her husband did not want her there. Afraid animals would attack. She did not understand since in the last year's nothing indicated that the forest was not safe.

Lilly quickly dressed her boys and walked towards her friends house. When she knocked on the door a maid opened it and let them in. The two boys quickly ran past the woman when they heard Isabelle's giggle from a room near them. Lilly sighed and shook her head at them.

"Good morning Mrs Salvatore, Mrs Swan is up stairs in her room. She is not feeling well." The maid said as she closed the door behind Lilly. "She instructed me if you would come today to send you to her. I will bring you some tea later and keep an eye on the children."

Lilly nodded and made her way up the stairs, pulling her dress up so she would not trip. When she entered her friend's bedroom she rushed over.

"Oh Marie." She said as she smiled down at her friend while feeling her forhead for a fever. "How are you feeling?"

"I am fine Lilly." She rolled her eyes at her as she swatted away the hand on her head. "Nothing I can not handle."

"You do have a fever. Maybe you should sleep and I can watch the children."

"Nonsense I slept for hours. I feel better then yesterday and the fever is going down." Marie said as she patted the spot next to her on the bed. Lilly untied her shoes, pulled her feet out of them and laid down next to Marie. "I can see something is troubling you Darling, why do you not tell maybe it will help."

"There is… but I do not know where to start." Lilly said as she looked at her hands.

"Has it something to do with you sweet boys?" Lilly shook her head. "hmmm, Is Guiseppe the blame for that sad look in you eyes Love?"

"He is." She said. Not sure where to start.

"Did he hurt you?" Lilly looked up when her friend said that lowly. Marie was protective of her friend who she became to see as a sister.

"He has hit me twice and raised his voice numerous of times. He has not done so towards Damon or Stefan."

"That bloody bastard!" Marie was getting angry but quickly lowered her voice remembering there were more people in the house. "How dare he! If I get my hands on him I will strangle him!"

This was why Lilly did not want to tell Marie, she knew she would get furious.

"Marie please do not do that! It would only make it worse."

There was a knock on the door as The maid brought some tea for the two women. Setting it down next to Marie.

"Please call if you need anything else. I will start to prepare lunch soon."

"Thank you Kate." Marie said with a smile. Kate nodded and made her way down stairs. Checking on the children in the living room first. They were playing hide and seek. Happy that there was not any trouble she made her way to the kitchen. Once in the kitchen she got all the ingredients for lunch and for dinner, since the meat for dinner would need to cook a couple of hours.

Isabelle was counting to ten slowly as she waited for Stefan and Damon to hide.

"Nine….Ten!! Ready or not here I come." She yelled and turned around quickly hoping she would spot a movement somewhere in the room. Isabelle looked underneath the table, behind the couch and curtains. Not being succesful at finding her friends she stopped and thought about it for a minute. She heard a giggle coming from across the room. She smirked as she made her way towards Stefan his hiding place.

"Found you!" she said as she looked behind the open living room door. Stefan was wedged between it and the wall. Stefan whined about being found before he sat down on the couch waiting for his brother to be found.

Isabelle thought about the places she did not look. She smiled when she made her way towards the closet that was in the room. It was the only place she had not looked yet. When she opened the doors she pouted she didn't see Damon.

Damon wanted to snicker. He expected her to look inside the closet. A typical Damon smirked graced his face when a plan formed in his mind. He only need Isa to walk away from him and not long after she did. She mumbled something. But he could not hear. He quietly came out of his hiding place sneaking up behind the girl.

"Booo" he said while tickling her sides.

"aaah! Damon!" she started to laugh after being scared. He kept tickling her. "Stop it!"

She glared at Damon when he finally stopped. Everyone had a turn seeking the others and before they knew the maid Kate was calling them for lunch.

Kate had made a plate for Mrs Salvatore and Mrs Swan. She put their plates on a tray and quickly walked up stairs. Hoping Mrs Swan was not angry again. When she brought the tea over to the two women she heard Mrs Swan her furious whispered. Kate knew she was not the blame of the anger but she also did not want Mrs yelling at her. Not that she had ever done that. She was happy she worked for the Swan's. She had talked to other maids and found out that not all the families in Mystic Falls where as nice as the one she worked for.

She had heard tales from others that the man of the house could be very aggressive and wanted the maids to do other things to them, sexual acts. She was relieved Mister Swan was not like that.

When Kate was infront of the bedroom door she knocked again and waited for Mrs Swan to say she could go in.

"Here is your lunch." Kate said with a smile. She could see Mrs Swan was doing better than the previous days. It would not be long before she would have her full health back. "I made some soup Mrs Swan. I have some sandwiches for you Mrs Salvatore."

"Thank you Kate it smells delicious." Mrs Swan said to her. She was relieved the woman was not angry anymore. Kate quickly grabbed the tray with the empty tea cups and walked down stairs again. The children where already waiting for her to give them their food. They ate while the children were talking about whom was fastest. She shook her head as she grabbed her own plate and stood at the kitchen counter.

"Why do you not sit with us Kate?" Isabelle asked her with a sweet smile.

"Well normally I do not, but I do not mind joining you." She replied to the young girl. She walked with her plate to the table and sat down next to Stefan. They children began to ask her questions about when she grew up and if she knew some fun games to play.

She enjoyed the company of the youngsters, it reminded her of her and her siblings growing up. She explained the games she used to play and the children looked excited to try it some time.

When they were done eating Kate made sure everything was clean in the kitchen and the dining room. She made her way up stairs to do laundry. Mrs Salvatore came out of the room with the tray with the dirty dishes.

"Oh Mrs Salvatore please let me take that for you." She said.

"It is alright Kate I wanted to check on the little ones down stairs. I hope my boys were not to much trouble!" Lillian smiled at Kate.

"They were no trouble at all" Kate said before she made her way to the laundry room.

Lillian set the dishes on the kitchen counter, she looked out of the window. Damon, Stefan and Isabelle were playing in the garden with rings and sticks? She walked outside towards the children.

"That looks like a fun game. How do you play." Lillian asked with a smile on her face.

"Mommy!" Stefan yelled as he run towards her hugging her leg. The patted his head lovingly.

"It is called the game of graces or La Grace." Isabelle said to her in a sweet voice. "Kate taught us how to play."

"You have two rings one person throws them the other catches it and whom can catch the most wins." Damon explained.

"I am glad you are having fun. I am going to check on Marie see how she is feeling. Have fun playing." Stefan let go of her legs and went to play the game with his brother while Isabelle made her way over to Lillian.

"Is Momma doing better, Mrs Salvatore?" Isabelle asked her with big eyes.

"I think she is doing better sweetheart. Her fever is going down." A relieved look was seen in the eyes of the young girl."

"Can I see Her? Daddy did not let me. Because he did not want me sick. But if she is doing better now…. I want to give her a hug!"

"I think it should be alright." A big smile spread on Isabelle's face. She grabbed Lillian's hand and pulled her towards the door of the house. " I will be back soon! Do play fair Damon!"

Lillian had to laugh at the girl and the pout her older son gave her. Isabelle continued to pull on her hand until they stood before her parents bedroom.

She knocked softly on the wooden door.

"Come in" Marie said.

Lillian opened the door and Isabelle rushed to her mother, jumping on the bed and cuddled Marie's side. While asking how she was feeling and feeling her head.

"You are still warm momma!"

"It will be all fine my love. I am feeling better. It will not be long before I can go out of bed. Probably a day or two."

Isabelle let out a squeal of happiness before she kissed her mother's cheek with a sloppy kiss and jumped of the bed again.

"I am going to make sure Damon plays fair with Stefan! I know he is cheeky!" Isabelle said while she ran out of the door. Her dress bouncing up and down while she did.

Marie had to laugh at her daughter. She loved it when Isa used British words. It was the only time her little girl sounded like her. Using the same accent she was. Ever since Isa went to the small school in town her British accent became less and less. Marie was a bit sad about it but she knew there was nothing she could do.

"You should have seen Damon's face when she said to him he needed to play fair" her friend said, pulling her out of her thought. "I expected him to go against her but he did not, instead he had the biggest pout on his face."

"Oh Lilly I am so curious to see how they will fair in a couple of years. I think Damon will be a hand full."

"will be? Oh no he already is and I do not know what to do sometimes. He can be the little prankster. I think our maid had been startled by him numerous times." Lillian laughed. "Stefan also begins to see the fun in his brother antics and sometimes joins his brother."

"Sometimes I wonder how it would be if Isa had a sibling. I always wanted more than one child. Unfortunately I can not bare any more children."

Lillian looked shocked at her friend. "I am so sorry since when have you known?"

"I guess I knew a couple years back. Isa's birth was to much for my body. If I will get pregnant, which can only be caused by a miracle or magic, I will probably not survive. I do not want to leave Isa and Charles. Your boys feel like my sons or nephews. I do not really need more children. "

Lillian smiled at her friend. She knew if something happend to her, her friend would take care of her son's. She would do the same for Isabelle.

author note:

HAPPY NEW YEAR EVERYONE i wish you all an amazing 2018!

so i hope you liked the chapter. i skipped a couple of years.

please let me know what you want to see in this story!

i updated the swan and the raven yesterday. i will probably update that story before this one.